Brunswick Corporation

Elmer E Croisant

Kass W Sawyer

A clutch apparatus for a marine drive lower gear case includes a propeller shaft rotatably mounted in a gear case housing. A drive gear for both forward and reverse is positioned in the housing coaxial with the propeller shaft and a clutch member is rotatably fixed on the propeller shaft and movable axially into drive engagement with the drive gear. Clutch engaging elements are provided on opposed portions of the drive gears and the clutch member. Shift means utilizing a positive acting cam means positively move the clutch member into and out of engagement from the drive gears. The shift means also include a releasable latch means to positively maintain the shift means in the engaged position and a preloading means between the shift means and the clutch member to snap the clutch member into engagement.

Drive engaging apparatus

An electric trolling motor includes a lower unit with a cylindrical motor housing closed at the aft end by a planetary gear-reduction subassembly. A motor shaft supporting hub member telescopes into the housing and has clamped thereagainst an annular gear with clamping bolts passing therethrough and threaded into the hub member. Planetary gears carried by a cage engage the annular gear. A propeller shaft is fixed to the cage and journaled in a second hub portion of the housing. A sun gear meshes with the planetary gears and has an opening aligned with an opening in a hub portion of the first hub member to receive the motor shaft. The shaft openings in the first and second hub members have shaft bearings in spherical seats and rotating seals. The spherical seats provided proper alignment of the shafts. The planetary gear subassembly drops onto the motor shaft with both hub members abutting the motor housing and secured thereto by bolts. The motor shaft and sun gear have complementing interlocking surfaces to establish rotatable interconnection. The opposing surfaces of the sun gear and the cage have thrust bearing surfaces with the motor shaft holding the sun gear in cage abutting relation.

Radial thrust apparatus for high thrust trolling motor

A marine propulsion drive mounted to a boat transom includes a vertical drive shaft and a horizontal propeller shaft coupled by a pair of bevel gears in an oil filled lower housing unit. The vertical shaft is supported in vertically spaced bearings, one of which is immediately adjacent the upper wall of the bevel gear and the other of which is spaced upwardly therefrom. A shift member is selectably positioned through a shift linkage including a vertically extending shift rod which projects upwardly through an appropriate opening in the housing. A lateral passageway is provided immediately adjacent the upper bearing which extends laterally and downwardly to the shift passageway. An oil circulating passageway is formed having an inlet end in the upper wall of the lower housing adjacent to the upper face of the drive bevel gear and an outlet end terminating between the bearings. The inlet of the circulating passageway is laterally offset from the common plane through the vertical drive shaft and the propeller shaft and therefore offset with respect to the full mating position of the gear teeth of the corresponding set of bevel gears. The passageway inlet is particularly located overlying the outer peripheral portion of one of the drive gears on the vertical shaft and to the upwardly moving side thereof. The inlet is further located also generally overlying the outermost edge of the mating driven bevel gear on the propeller shaft. Oil flows continuously upwardly through and over the ball bearing unit and returns downwardly through the shift rod opening in the lower unit housing to the lower portion of the gear casing.

Growing community of inventors

Oshkosh, WI, United States of America

Elmer E Croisant