Marine propulsion system

A propeller for a marine propulsion system comprising:

• a propeller hub having a plurality of openings defined by an inclined surface such that each opening increases in size from a radially outermost extremity to a radially innermost extremity;
• a propeller blade having a propeller base mounted in each of the openings, each base having an inclined surface which matches the inclined surface of the respective opening;
• an unlocking mechanism for moving each base and the propeller blade radially inwardly with respect to the opening to disengage the respective inclined surface of the base from the respective inclined surface of the opening for enabling rotation of the base, and therefore the propeller blade relative to the hub about an axis transverse to a rotation axis of the hub;
• a pitch adjusting mechanism for rotating the base to thereby adjust the pitch of the propeller blade;
• and
• a re-locking mechanism for re-engaging the respective inclined surface of the base with the respective inclined surface of the opening to lock the base in the pitch adjusted position.

A marine propulsion system to be driven by a motor, the system comprising:

• a propeller having a propeller hub and a plurality of propeller blades;
• a drive for rotating the propeller about a first axis;
• a pitch adjusting mechanism for adjusting the pitch of the propeller blades about respective axes transverse to the first axis;
• a blade supporting mechanism for supporting the blades in the hub to allow adjustment of the pitch of the blades about the transverse axes, the supporting mechanism comprising:
• an engaging element for movement by the adjusting mechanism to adjust the pitch of the blades;
• the engaging element having an arm for each of the blades;
• a joint carried by the arm;
• a pin mounted in the joint;
• an eccentric in engagement with the pin;
• a propeller base connected to the eccentric, the propeller base having a tapered surface;
• a tapered surface on the hub for engagement with the tapered surface on the base so that when the base is forced radially outwardly with respect to the hub, the tapered surface of the base engages the tapered surface of the hub to lock the propeller in a pitch adjusted position;
• a biasing element for biasing the base radially outwardly and the eccentric and pin to an equilibrium position;
• and wherein when the adjusting mechanism moves the adjusting element, the engagement between the flexible joint and the pin causes the joint and pin to first rotate the eccentric about an eccentric axis to pull the tapered surface of the base away from the tapered surface of the hub, and whereupon further movement of the adjusting mechanism, and therefore the element, rotates the eccentric and the base relative to the hub about the transverse axis to adjust the pitch of the propeller blades;
• and whereupon when movement of the adjusting mechanism ceases and movement of the element ceases, the biasing means biases the base radially outwardly of the hub so that the tapered surface of the base reengages with the tapered surface of the hub to lock the propeller blade in the adjusted position.