Sanshin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Yamaha Marine Kabushiki Kaisha

Kouei Kokubo

Daisuke Nakamura

Akihiro Onoue

Noriyuki Natsume

Yukio Takeda

Kazuhiro Okuzawa

An outboard motor includes a drive unit and a bracket assembly mounted on an associated watercraft. The bracket assembly includes a swivel bracket arranged to support the drive unit for pivotal movement through a steering angle about a steering axis. A clamping bracket is arranged to support the swivel bracket for pivotal movement about a tilt axis. The clamping bracket includes a pair of bracket arms spaced apart from each. Each bracket arm defines a plurality of openings that are arranged next to one another in an arcuate line so as to minimize a fore-to-aft width of the bracket arm. As a result of the smaller bracket arm width, the drive unit can be pivoted through a larger steering angle.

Tilt support mechanism for outboard motor

An outboard motor includes a power head, driveshaft housing and lower unit, and employs a cooling system to cool the driveshaft housing. Portions of the driveshaft housing experience substantial heat transfer from the exhaust gases that pass through the driveshaft housing. The driveshaft housing cooling system cools the heated portions of the driveshaft housing. The cooling system includes delivery pipes adapted to deliver water to the outer surface of each side of the driveshaft housing. The water is distributed to the housing outer surface in a manner to establish a substantially even flow across the surface so that heat is dissipated from the housing in order to prevent the housing from reaching very high temperatures.

Outboard drive housing cooling system

A marine outboard drive, such as an outboard motor, includes both a splash plate and an anti-splash device. The anti-splash device includes a second splash plate that is provided on a lower mount, which couples together a swivel bracket and a drive housing. The second splash plate extends generally forwardly of the swivel bracket just under a lower portion of a clamp bracket that supports the swivel bracket. The anti-splash device preferably also includes a guide that is provided above the conventional splash plate for directing splashed water rearwardly so that the water is guided away from a mount cover that covers the lower mount. These features of the anti-splash device are particularly useful when the outboard drive is used with a pontoon boat.

Growing community of inventors

Shizuoka, Japan

Kouei Kokubo