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US 4,904,214 AGranted
Marine stern drive with lubricated and sealed output coupler
AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorEdward C. Eick
Life of this patent
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AssigneeBrunswick Corporation
InventorEdward C. Eick
Estimating the term…
A marine stern drive (10) has an engine output coupler (60) driven to rotate about an axis and having a hub (70) with a splined axial opening (72) therein which is open-ended at the front and rear. A splined output driveshaft (78) is received in the splined axial opening (72) of the coupler hub (70) and is operatively coupled to the boat propeller (20) to drive same. The coupler hub (70) has a grease fitting (74) therein and a grease passage (76) extending from the grease fitting (74) and communicating with the splines (80, 82) to lubricate same. Front and rear sealing O-rings (84, 86) trap and retain the grease therebetween to maintain lubrication of the splines. The axial opening in the hub has a forward splined section (88) and a rearward nonsplined section (90). The driveshaft has a forward nonsplined section (90), a splined section (94) axially rearward of the forward section (92), and another nonsplined section (96) axially rearward of the splined section (94). The driveshaft is received in the hub opening with the splined section of the driveshaft and the splined section of the hub opening partially overlapping. The forward nonsplined section (92) of the driveshaft is received in a portion of the splined section (88) of the hub opening forward of the overlapping splined sections. The splined section (94) of the driveshaft rearward of the overlapping splined sections is received in the nonsplined section (90) of the hub opening. The nonsplined section (96) of the driveshaft rearward of the splined section (94) of the driveshaft is also received in the nonsplined section (92) of the hub opening.
A marine drive having an engine output coupler driven to rotate about an axis and having a splined axial opening therein extending along said axis and being open-ended at both the forward and rearward ends thereof, a splined output driveshaft received in said splined axial opening of said coupler and operatively coupled to a propeller for driving same, said coupler having a grease fitting for introducing grease therein and a grease passage extending from said grease fitting and communicating with said splines to lubricate the latter, front and rear axially spaced seals trapping and retaining said grease therebetween to maintain lubrication of said splines;
A marine drive having an engine output coupler driven to rotate about an axis, said coupler having a hub with an axial opening therein, said axial opening having a forward splined section and a rearward nonsplined section, an output driveshaft received in said axial opening of said hub and operatively coupled to a propeller for driving said propeller, said driveshaft having a forward nonsplined section, a splined section axially rearward of said forward section, and another nonsplined section axially rearward of said splined section, said driveshaft received in said hub opening with said splined section of said driveshaft and said splined section of said hub opening partially overlapping and in mating driving engagement, said forward nonsplined section of said driveshaft being received in a portion of said splined section of said hub opening forward of said overlapping splined sections, said splined section of said driveshaft rearward of said overlapping splined sections being received in said nonsplined section of said hub opening, said nonsplined section of said driveshaft rearward of said splined section of said driveshaft also being received in said nonsplined section of said hub opening, said hub having a grease fitting for introducing grease therein and a grease passage extending from said grease fitting and communicating with said hub opening to lubricate said overlapping splined sections, a first seal at the interface of said forward nonsplined section of said driveshaft and said forward splined section of said hub opening, a second seal at the interface of said nonsplined rearward section of said driveshaft and said nonsplined rearward section of said hub opening rearward of said splined section of said driveshaft, said seals trapping and retaining said grease therebetween to maintain lubrication of said splines.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.