Marine drive shift mechanism with detent canister centered neutral

A marine drive shift mechanism comprising:

• a housing;
• a main shaft;
• reverse gear means freely rotatable about said main shaft, said reverse gear means having a clutch face on one side;
• forward gear means freely rotatable about said main shaft, said forward gear means having a clutch face on one side, with said clutch faces facing each other;
• a drive gear meshed with said reverse and forward gear means for driving said reverse and forward gear means in respectively opposite directions of rotation;
• a sleeve member mounted on said main shaft between said reverse and forward gear means, said sleeve member having a clutch face at each end, each clutch face selectively engageable with one of said clutch faces of said forward and reverse gear means;
• shift means engaging and selectively moving said sleeve member along said main shaft into engagement with said gear means, said shift means having a forward position moving said sleeve member into engagement with said forward gear means, said shift means having a reverse position moving said sleeve member into engagement with said reverse gear means, said shift means having a neutral position moving said sleeve member to a position between and disengaged from said forward and reverse gear means;
• a detent canister assembly mounted as a unit in said housing, said canister assembly comprising a cylindrical canister containing a spring biased ball biased into engagement with said shift means in detent relation to center the latter in said neutral position.

A marine drive shift mechanism comprising:

• a housing;
• a main shaft;
• reverse gear means freely rotatable about said main shaft, said reverse gear means having a clutch face on one side;
• forward gear means freely rotatable about said main shaft, said forward gear means having a clutch face on one side, with said clutch faces facing each other;
• a drive gear meshed with said reverse and forward gear means for driving said reverse and forward gear means in respectively opposite directions of rotation;
• a sleeve member mounted on said main shaft between said forward and reverse gear means, said sleeve member having a clutch face at each end, each clutch face selectively engagable with one of said clutch faces of said reverse and forward gear means;
• shift means for engaging and selectively moving said sleeve member along said main shaft into engagement with said gear means, said shift means having a forward position moving said sleeve member into engagement with said forward gear means, said shift means having a reverse position moving said sleeve member into engagement with said reverse gear means, said shift means having a neutral position moving said sleeve member to a position between and disengaging said forward and reverse gear means, said shift means comprising yoke means for engaging and moving said sleeve member and actuating linkage for actuating said yoke means, said actuating linkage including a rotary shaft extending parallel to said main shaft, and a lever arm mounted to said second mentioned shaft;
• a detent canister assembly mounted in said housing and containing a spring biased ball engaging said lever arm to center the latter in said neutral position of said shift means.

A marine drive shift mechanism comprising:

• a housing;
• a main shaft;
• reverse gear means freely rotatable about said main shaft, said reverse gear means having a clutch face on one side;
• forward gear means freely rotatable about said main shaft, said forward gear means having a clutch face on one side, with said clutch faces facing each other;
• a drive gear meshed with said reverse and forward gear means for driving said reverse and forward gear means in respectively opposite directions of rotation;
• a sleeve member mounted on said main shaft between said reverse and forward gear means, said sleeve member having
• a clutch face at each end, each clutch face selectively engagable with one of said clutch faces of said reverse and forward gear means, and
• an exterior circumferential groove in said sleeve member between said clutch faces;
• yoke means for engaging said groove and moving said sleeve member along said main shaft;
• cam means operatively associated with said yoke means;
• actuating means for actuating said cam means into engagement with said reverse gear means to actuate said yoke means and drive said sleeve member out of engagement with said reverse gear means and into engagement with said forward gear means to provide a forward position, and for actuating said cam means into engagement with said forward gear means to actuate said yoke means and drive said sleeve member out of engagement with said forward gear means and into engagement with said reverse gear means to provide a reverse position, said actuating means having a neutral position between said forward and reverse positions with said sleeve member between and disengaging said forward and reverse gear means;
• a detent canister assembly comprising a self contained modular unit mounted in said housing and comprising a cylindrical canister containing a ball spring biased into engagement with said actuating means to center the latter in said neutral position.