Honda Motor Co., Ltd.

Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha

Other

Yutaka Giken Co., Ltd.

Yoshiyuki Matsuda

Hajime Yoshimura

Shinichi Ide

Koji Kuriyagawa

Hikaru Ikeda

Nobuchika Katagiri

Hiroyuki Murata

Norimasa Takasaki

Makoto Yazaki

Kazuyuki Shiomi

Masahiro Akiyama

Kentaro Furuya

Yasushi Fujita

Masahide Shinokawa

Hideo Shigedomi

Chiharu Soda

Kazuomi Kiku

Morihiro Takemura

Taiichi Otobe

Akifumi Fujima

Yoshimi Watanabe

Tokuji Yoshimoto

Masayuki Ohsumi

Kazuyoshi Sato

Kunihiro Kitsu

Toru Kimura

Toyoshi Yasuda

Nobuo Haga

Takahiro Miyata

Tsuyoshi Yoshigasa

Nobuhiro Ishizaka

An outboard motor includes a trolling mode. The outboard motor includes an outboard motor body including a propeller and a drive source, a tiller handle body extending forward from the outboard motor body, a grip handle extending from a front end surface of the tiller handle body and configured to steer the outboard motor body via the tiller handle body, and a trolling switch attached to the tiller handle body and configured to adjust a trolling speed. An operation portion of the trolling switch is attached to a lower front end surface of the tiller handle body, the lower front end surface being located below the grip handle.

Outboard motor

An outboard motor mounted on a stern of a boat is provided with a transmission and an oil pump. The transmission has a first-speed and second-speed gears, a first-speed gear clutch made of a mechanical dog clutch and a second-speed gear clutch made of a hydraulic clutch each adapted to engage the first and second-speed gears on a power transmission shaft, and a first-speed gear shift actuator adapted to couple the first-speed gear clutch with the first-speed gear. In the transmission, a first speed is established when the first-speed gear is engaged on the power transmission shaft and a second speed is established when the second-speed gear is engaged on the power transmission shaft while the first speed has been established such that power of the engine is transmitted to the propeller through the established speed.

Outboard motor and control apparatus thereof

An outboard engine unit includes a water pump disposed on a lower end portion of an input shaft of a transmission, and left and right cooling water feeding passages interconnecting the water pump and a cooling water inlet of an engine. The left and right cooling water feeding passages are disposed around a plurality of transmission gears disposed on the input shaft of the transmission. A cooling water drawn by the water pump is guided through the left and right cooling water feeding passages to the cooling water inlet.

Outboard engine unit

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller, and a torque converter interposed between the engine and a drive shaft and equipped with a lockup clutch, it is configured to have a throttle opening detector that detects throttle opening of a throttle valve of the engine, a throttle opening change amount calculator that calculates a change amount of the calculated throttle opening, and a clutch ON unit that makes the lockup clutch ON when the calculated change amount is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, and keeps the lockup clutch ON during a predetermined time period. With this, it becomes possible to improve acceleration performance immediately after the engine speed is accelerated.

Outboard motor control apparatus

A vertical power unit includes: an engine having a vertically arranged crankshaft; a vertically arranged output shaft provided below the crankshaft; and a torque converter providing a connection between the crankshaft and the output shaft. The torque converter is arranged so as to be offset from the crankshaft toward a cylinder block of the engine. A transmission device is provided between the crankshaft and the torque converter. The output shaft is arranged coaxially with the torque converter. Thus, the center of gravity of the vertical power unit is positioned as close as possible to the central portion of the engine, thereby minimizing bias of the center of gravity due to the weight of the torque converter and the output shaft to facilitate the handling of the vertical power unit.

Vertical power unit and outboard engine system

An outboard motor includes a transmission mechanism mounted between an output shaft of an engine and a propeller drive shaft. The transmission mechanism includes a clutch. An oil pump for generating a hydraulic pressure so as to switch the clutch is disposed underneath a lowermost one of transmission gears closely thereto. An oil pan is disposed underneath the oil pump and is placed inside an exhaust channel of a gear case.

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller and a torque converter interposed between the engine and a drive shaft and equipped with a lockup clutch, it is configured to, based on input rotation speed and output rotation speed of the torque converter, calculate a speed ratio of the torque converter and a change amount of the input rotation speed, and make the lockup clutch ON/OFF based on the calculated speed ratio and change amount. With this, it becomes possible to appropriately make the lockup clutch ON/OFF, thereby improving speed performance.

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor mounted on a stern of a boat and having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller, a drive shaft that connects the engine and the propeller, a torque converter that is interposed between the engine and the drive shaft and is equipped with a lockup clutch, a water pump connected to the drive shaft to be driven by the drive shaft, and a shift mechanism interposed between the drive shaft and the propeller, comprising a neutral position detector that detects the shift mechanism being set in a neutral position; and a clutch ON unit that makes the lockup clutch ON to increase operation speed of the water pump when it is detected that the shift mechanism is set in the neutral position. With this, it becomes possible to improve cooling performance, thereby preventing a defect such as overheat of the engine.

In an apparatus for controlling an outboard motor mounted on a stern of a boat and having an internal combustion engine to power a propeller, a drive shaft that connects the engine and the propeller, and a torque converter that is interposed between the engine and the drive shaft and is equipped with a lockup clutch, it is configured to have a planing determiner that determines whether the boat is planning and a clutch ON unit that makes the lockup clutch ON when the boat is determined to be planing. With this, it becomes possible to appropriately make the lockup clutch ON after completing acceleration, thereby improving speed performance.

An outboard engine system includes: a casing coupled to a swivel case via a swivel shaft; an engine mounted in an upper part of the casing such that a crankshaft of the engine is vertically arranged and a cylinder block of the engine faces in a direction opposite to the swivel shaft; a torque converter; a vertically arranged output shaft connected to the crankshaft through the torque converter; a horizontally arranged propeller shaft provided below the output shaft; and a forward-reverse shifting gear mechanism for providing a connection between the output shaft and the propeller shaft; the torque converter, the output shaft, the propeller shaft and the forward-reverse shifting gear mechanism being disposed in the casing. The crankshaft and the torque converter which is coaxially connected to a lower end of the crankshaft are disposed above the swivel shaft; and the torque converter and the output shaft which is disposed behind the swivel shaft are connected to each other via a transmission device. Thus, it is possible to minimize a bending moment which the swivel shaft receives due to the weight of the engine and the torque converter, in the case where the torque converter is used in the outboard engine system, thereby providing an excellent steering performance.

Outboard engine system

A vertical power unit includes an input shaft and an output shaft which have axes in the vertical direction and are vertically arranged to each other; and a torque converter between the input shaft and the output shaft. The output shaft includes an upper output shaft connected to a turbine runner and a lower output shaft connected to the upper output shaft. An oil tank and an oil pump are provided outside the torque converter. The upper output shaft is provided with a vertical hole which communicates at an upper end with a circulation circuit of the torque converter so as to introduce the oil discharged by the oil pump into the circulation circuit, and a bottom wall which closes a lower end of the vertical hole. Thus, an working oil is constantly supplied to the circulation circuit of the torque converter through the interior of the output shaft, thereby cooling the working oil in the circulation circuit, and improves maintainability of loading devices driven by the output shaft.

An outboard engine system includes: an engine; a casing to which the engine is removably mounted at an upper portion; a torque converter; a vertically arranged output shaft connected to a crankshaft via the torque converter; a horizontally arranged propeller shaft provided below the output shaft; and a forward-reverse shifting gear mechanism for providing a connection between the output shaft and the propeller shaft. The casing includes: casing main sections for housing the output shaft, the propeller shaft, and the forward-reverse shifting gear mechanism; and distance members removably jointed to the upper end of the casing main sections so as to house the torque converter. Both the casing main sections and the distance members are configured to be able to removably mount the engine. Thus, the casing having the main sections can be used in both an outboard engine system with a torque converter and an outboard engine system without a torque converter.

A vertical fluid power transmission includes: a vertical crankshaft of an engine; a vertical output shaft; and a vertical torque converter disposed between the crankshaft and the output shaft. An oil supply passage is connected to one end of the circulation circuit of the vertical torque converter, and guides a stored oil that is drawn up from an oil tank and discharged by an oil pump. An oil return passage is connected to the other one end of the circulation circuit, and leads to the oil tank. A normally-closed pressure response valve is provided in the oil return passage. The pressure response valve is opened by an upstream pressure. Thus, the oil tank for storing a working oil of the torque converter is separated from the torque converter, thereby downsizing the torque converter, and the working oil is circulated between the oil tank and the circulation circuit of the torque converter, thereby promoting cooling of the working oil.

Vertical fluid power transmission and outboard engine system

A gear case forming a lower part of a marine propulsion machine is provided with a gear chamber for housing a bevel gear mechanism, used for transmitting power from a drive shaft to a propeller shaft. The gear chamber is connected to the bottom of a vertical drive shaft receiving bore formed in the gear case to receive a drive shaft. The gear case is provided with a vertical shift rod receiving bore parallel to the drive shaft receiving bore and having an open upper end. A connecting hole is formed in the gear case to connect respective upper parts of the drive shaft receiving bore and the shift rod receiving bore. A covering member covers the upper open upper end of the shift rod receiving bore. A shift rod is passed through the covering member into the shift rod receiving bore. The covering member has upward bulging walls defining pressure-compensating chambers. Thus, the covering member attached to an upper part of the gear case and serving as a pressure-compensating structure reduces the number of parts and man-hours necessary for assembling the gear case assembly, and reduces the cost of the gear case assembly.

Gear case assembly with pressure-compensating function for marine propulsion machine

A forward/backward gear shifting mechanism for an outboard engine includes an operating cable passed through an outer pipe fixed to a bracket attached to an under cover and extended into an engine room, a shift rod for shifting a forward/backward gear, a driving arm for turning the shift rod, and a transmission mechanism linked to the operating cable to transmit operating force to the driving arm. The transmission mechanism includes an arm mechanism including an input arm, an output arm and a pivotal shaft and supported for turning about a fixed rotational axis by support members on the engine unit. The operating cable is linked to the input arm of the transmission mechanism by a slider, i.e., a linking member. A first connecting member connecting the input member and the slider is nearer to the bracket than a second connecting member connecting the operating cable and the slider. A necessary stroke of the operating cable is secured, choices of disposing the transmission mechanism are increased, the lightness of a shifting operation is improved, and the transmission mechanism is compact.

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Saitama, Japan

Yoshiyuki Matsuda