The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jul. 16, 2002
Filed:
Aug. 23, 2000
Takahiro Oguma, Hamamatsu, JP;
Abstract
A marine drive includes a drive shaft having an upper portion, a lower portion, and at least one waist portion between the upper and lower portions. The upper portion is adapted to be coupled to an engine crankshaft and the lower portion is adapted to be supported by bearings and drives a propulsion device through a transmission. The waist portion has a diameter of generally lesser size than the diameters of the upper and lower portions. The waist portion is tapered so that the diameter of the waist portion at its upper end is greater than the diameter of the waist portion at its lower end. The tapered geometry of the waist portion helps distribute impact forces that may occur when the propulsion device is suddenly locked in position when the engine is still running. As a result, failure and damage to the drive shaft waist portion is reduced.