Amphibious vehicle drivetrain
AssigneeOzarks Scenic Tours, Inc.
InventorsDouglas Krister Sandgren, Ronald E. Bollinger
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A drivetrain for an amphibious vehicle for spacing a transmission apart from a motor to permit the relative positions of the motor and the transmission in the vehicle to be lowered. The drivetrain includes a separator shaft with first and second U-joints attached at its ends, an adaptor plate for coupling one of the U-joints to a motor flywheel, an adaptor hub, an adaptor shaft and a coupler. The drivetrain transfers rotational movement from the motor to the spaced-apart transmission.
Claims19
An amphibious vehicle having a novel drivetrain which facilitates lowering the amphibious vehicle's center of gravity, the vehicle comprising:
- an amphibious vehicle body having a longitudinal axis and forward and rearward ends, the body further having a hull with a channel therein adjacent the forward end of the body, the channel being transverse the longitudinal axis of the body;
- a motor positioned within the body forward of the channel;
- a transmission positioned within the body rearward of the channel, wherein at least a portion of the channel is intermediate the motor and the transmission;
- and
- a drivetrain with a separator shaft having a first end coupled with the motor and a second end coupled with the transmission, wherein the motor is spaced apart from the transmission by the separator shaft, and wherein at least a portion of the separator shaft crosses over the channel.
A method of lowering a center of gravity of an amphibious vehicle, the steps comprising:
- obtaining an amphibious vehicle having a body, a motor and a transmission, wherein the body has a hull with a bottom surface and wherein the bottom surface has an axle channel therein that is transverse the body;
- obtaining a separator shaft having first and second ends;
- spacing the motor apart from the transmission;
- connecting the motor to the transmission via the separator shaft;
- and
- positioning the motor, separator shaft and transmission in the body of the vehicle, wherein the motor is positioned in the body forward of the channel, wherein the transmission is positioned in the body rearward of the channel, wherein the separator shaft is transverse the channel, and wherein at least a portion of the channel is between the motor and the transmission, thereby permitting the motor and transmission to be lowered in the vehicle.
An amphibious vehicle having a lowered center of gravity, the vehicle comprising:
- a vehicle body having a bottom surface with a transverse channel therein for receiving a portion of a front axle of the vehicle;
- a motor positioned in said body forwardly of the channel;
- a transmission spaced apart from said motor and positioned in the body rearwardly of the channel;
- and
- a separator shaft positioned between the motor and the transmission, wherein the motor is coupled to the transmission via the shaft, and wherein at least a portion of the channel is located between the motor and the transmission, whereby the motor and the transmission may be lowered on opposite sides of the channel to lower the center of gravity of the vehicle and thereby increase the vehicle's stability.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.