Claims
- 1. A marine outboard drive comprising a lower unit housing including first and second threaded apertures, a bearing carrier adapted to generally fit within said lower unit housing, said bearing carrier including an externally threaded first end configured to screw into said first threaded aperture of said lower unit housing, and an externally threaded ring nut configured to screw into said second aperture and to cooperate with a second end of said bearing carrier to fix said bearing carrier within the lower unit housing with said first end screwed into said first aperture, the external threads on said ring nut being of the same hand as that of the external threads on said bearing carrier first end.
- 2. The outboard drive of claim 1, wherein said external threads of said bearing carrier first end and of said ring nut have different thread pitches.
- 3. The outboard drive of claim 2, wherein the thread pitch of the external threads on said bearing carrier first end is larger than the thread pitch of the external threads of said ring nut.
- 4. The outboard drive of claim 1 additionally comprising a first propulsion shaft which extends through and is journaled within said bearing carrier.
- 5. The outboard drive of claim 4 additionally comprising a hollow second propulsion shaft which extends through at least a portion of said bearing carrier with said first propulsion shaft extending through said hollow second propulsion shaft.
- 6. The outboard drive of claim 4 additionally comprising a transmission housed within said lower unit housing, said transmission selectively coupling said propulsion shaft to a drive shaft, at least a portion of said transmission being disposed within said first end of said bearing carrier with said bearing carrier coupled to said lower unit housing.
- 7. The outboard drive of claim 4, wherein said propulsion shaft drives a propeller device.
- 8. The outboard drive of claim 1, wherein said ring nut abuts said second end of said bearing carrier when said ring nut is fully threaded into said second aperture of said lower unit housing.
- 9. The outboard drive of claim 8, wherein at least a portion of said second end of said bearing carrier lies within said second aperture of said lower unit housing with said bearing carrier first end threaded into said first aperture.
- 10. A marine outboard drive comprising a lower unit housing, a propulsion shaft bearing carrier including first and second ends, said first end of the bearing carrier and said lower unit housing together including a first pairing of interengaging coupling elements which couple the bearing carrier to the lower unit housing when said bearing carrier is rotated about its longitudinal axis in a first rotational direction, and a ring nut said lower unit housing and cooperate with the second end of said bearing carrier to fix said bearing carrier to said lower trait housing, said ring nut and said lower unit housing together including a second pairing of interengaging coupling elements which couple the ring nut to the lower unit housing when the ring nut is rotated relative to said lower unit housing in said first rotational direction.
- 11. The outboard drive of claim 10, wherein said first pairing of interengaging coupling elements comprises cooperating internal and external threads, said first end of said bearing carrier carries the external thread, and the internal thread is formed within a first threaded aperture of the lower unit housing such that the first end of the bearing carrier is screwed into the first threaded aperture of said lower unit housing to connect the bearing carrier to the lower unit housing.
- 12. The outboard drive of claim 11 additionally comprising a transmission positioned within said lower unit housing proximate to said aperture.
- 13. The outboard drive of claim 12, wherein at least a portion of said transmission extends into said aperture.
- 14. The outboard drive of claim 11, wherein the second pairing of the interengaging elements comprises cooperating internal and external threads, said ring nut carries the external thread which is configured to engage a second threaded aperture disposed at a rear end of said lower unit housing and in which the internal thread is formed, and the external threads on the first end of the bearing carrier and the external threads of the ring nut are of the same hand.
- 15. The outboard drive of claim 14, wherein said external threads of said bearing carrier first end and of said ring nut have different thread pitches.
- 16. The outboard drive of claim 15, wherein the thread pitch of the external threads on said bearing carrier first end is larger than the thread pitch on the external threads of said ring nut.
- 17. The outboard drive of claim 14, wherein said ring nut abuts said second end of said bearing carrier when said ring nut is fully threaded into said first aperture of said lower unit housing.
- 18. The outboard drive of claim 17, wherein at least a portion of said second end of said bearing carrier lies within said second threaded aperture of said lower unit housing with said bearing carrier first end threaded into said first threaded aperture.
- 19. The outboard drive of claim 17 additionally comprising a locking tab washer positioned between said second end of said bearing carrier and said ring nut, and a first portion of said washer is positioned to engage said lower unit housing and a second portion of said washer is positioned to engage said ring nut.
Priority Claims (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
HEI 5-298656 |
Nov 1993 |
JPX |
|
HEI 6-118711 |
May 1994 |
JPX |
|
RELATED CASES
The present application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/346,397, filed on Nov. 29, 1994, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,575,678. In addition, the present application and the parent application each claim foreign priority from Japanese Patent Application Ser. Nos. Hei 6-118711 and Hei 5-298656, respectively.
US Referenced Citations (47)
Continuation in Parts (1)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
346397 |
Nov 1994 |
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