Self-activating marine jet drive weed grate cleanout system

A marine jet drive weed grate for the water inlet opening of a jet drive, the inlet opening admitting water upwardly and rearwardly therein, the weed grate comprising:

• a stationary mounting frame adapted to be mounted in the inlet opening, the mounting frame having a forward end, an aft end, and a contact plate extending across the mounting frame near the aft end;
• a pivot rod mounted across the mounting frame near the forward end of the mounting frame;
• a plurality of cantilever tines each having a forward end and an aft end, each tine being mounted to the pivot rod near its forward end such that the aft end of each tine is movable relative to the contact plate of the mounting frame;
• and
• a spring member exerting a rotational bias force to pivot the tines in a downward direction such that the aft end of each cantilever tine rotates toward the contact plate of the mounting frame, such that when weeds begin to clog the weed grate, suction created by the jet drive causes the tines rotate upward against the rotational bias force of the spring member to create a gap between the tines and the contact plate of the mounting frame to permit the weeds to pass through the inlet opening.

A marine jet drive weed grate for the water inlet opening of a jet drive, the inlet opening having a forward end and an aft end and admitting water upwardly and rearwardly therein, the weed grate comprising:

• a stationary mounting frame adapted to be mounted in the inlet opening, the mounting frame having a forward end, an aft end, and a contact plate extending across the mounting frame near the aft end, the contact plate having an upper surface angled upwardly from a leading edge of the contact plate;
• a pivot rod mounted across the mounting frame near the forward end of the mounting frame;
• a plurality of cantilever tines each having a forward end, an aft end, and an aft end tip, each tine being mounted to the pivot rod near its forward end such that the aft end of each tine is movable relative to the contact plate of the mounting frame;
• and
• a spring member exerting a rotational bias force to pivot the tines in a downward direction toward the contact plate of the mounting frame, such that the aft end tip of each cantilever tine is biased into contact with the upper surface of the contact plate, and such that when weeds begin to clog the weed grate, suction created by the jet drive causes the tines to rotate upwardly against the rotational bias force of the spring member to create a gap between the aft end tips of the tines and the upper surface of the contact plate of the mounting frame to permit the weeds to pass through the gap.

A weed grate for a water inlet opening of a jet drive, comprising:

• a pivot rod mounted across a first side of the opening;
• a plurality of tines each having a first end attached to the pivot rod and a second end extending away from the pivot rod and across the opening toward a second side of the opening;
• and
• a spring member in force transmitting relation with the plurality of tines to urge the tines toward a closed position across the opening and into contact with the second side of the opening, the force transmitted by the spring member being sufficiently large to maintain the tines in the closed position when the opening is not covered by an obstruction, the force transmitted by the spring member being sufficiently small to be overcome by a suction force created by the jet drive when the opening is at least partially covered by the obstruction.