Ohio Associated Enterprises, Inc.

Competition Aircraft, Inc.

Charles R Anspach

John T Venaleck

Park French

Carl W Rose, Jr

James A Bacnik

John E Hartman

Mark D Stojkov

Paul M Dadd

Robert J Davis

An outdrive system for water craft includes in an embodiment use of plastic or other relatively flexible material, e.g., compared to metal, as a housing material, and techniques which enable and/or at least facilitate use of such housing material. Several of those techniques employ a flexible member, such as a belt, to couple power between the input and output of an outdrive, and heat conducting back bending surfaces to urge the belt legs toward each other and to remove heat from the outdrive, an anti-shear stuffer or fence to reduce energy losses such as heat, and lubricant requirements, and/or an eccentric mechanical tensioning device for the belt. The invention also relates to use in a vehicle drive, especially for water craft, of housing materials a substantial part of which are not subject to corrosion, galvanic action and the like. Other features include a rotational shock absorber system, an output shaft support, an improved sprocket tooth profile, a water by-pass silencer, an L C (analogous to an electrical inductor and capacitor filter) exhaust silencer, a split eccentric tensioner, an active tensioner, a transmission and a transmission shift mechanism, tensioning protocol and a cooling method. Also, in an embodiment the housing may be made partly or entirely of thermally conductive material, such as, aluminum, which facilitates and enhances heat removal by conduction to the water in which the outdrive is immersed.

Marine drive system with improved drive belt

An outdrive system for watercraft includes use of plastic or other relatively flexible material, e.g., compared to metal, especially as a housing material, and techniques which enable and/or at least facilitate use of such housing material. One of those techniques employs a flexible member, such as a belt, to couple power between the input and output of an outdrive and another employs a cooling system to remove heat. The invention also relates to use in a vehicle drive, especially for watercraft, of housing materials that are not subject to corrosion, galvanic action and the like.

Marine drive system with belt drive

A propeller includes a rotatable hub with a plurality of sockets, blades with roots that fit in the sockets and a plurality of pitch blocks which fit between the blade root and the socket walls. Hubs with two, three, and four sockets are shown. The blades have no twist and are formed of molded, glass reinforced nylon. The pitch blocks are also nylon and different pairs of pitch blocks may be used to hold the blades at different angles. All nylon components are designed to minimize stress concentrations. The hubs although also of nylon have steel reinforcing plates within them which take the centripetal forces. These forces are transmitted through bolts to passage walls in the pitch blocks, and from the pitch blocks through interengaging teeth to the blade roots. A snap on, snap off aerodynamic spinner is also provided.

Propeller

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Bokeelia, FL, United States of America

Charles R Anspach