Single lever control with detent mechanism for holding lever vertically

Abstract

A single lever control for the throttle and clutch of a marine propulsion device including a housing pivotally supporting both a main control lever and an auxiliary warm-up lever, a throttle lever, and a gear shift lever. The throttle lever is alternately operable to regulate the setting of a remotely located engine throttle in response to movement of either the main control lever from a neutral position or the warm-up lever from an idle position. The gear shift lever is operable to shift an engine clutch in response to initial movement of the main control lever from the neutral position. A lock-out lever mounted inside the housing cooperates with a lock-out plate carried by the warm-up lever and with a recessed, arcuate surface on the gear shift lever to prevent movement of warm-up lever when the main control lever is displaced from the neutral position and to prevent movement of the main control lever when the warm-up lever is displaced from the idle position. In one embodiment, the locking arm of a locking mechanism carried by the main control lever cooperates with a notched index plate mounted on the exterior of the housing and coaxially with the control lever pivot axis to releasably lock the main control lever in the neutral position. In another embodiment, the index plate and the control lever are arranged to afford selective adjustment of the angular orientation of the main control lever so it will be substantially vertical when in the neutral position irrespective of the angular orientation of the housing to the horizontal.