Patent Application
20120319372
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This invention relates to a device for moving marine outboard motors across surfaces. The common type of marine outboard motor has a supporting bracket for removable mounting to the transom of a boat. It is common practice to dismount the outboard motor from the boat for storage, or to perform maintenance, or for transport. Often this requires moving the motor over land, docks, or other surfaces.
Outboard motors are difficult to carry or transport due to their weight and shape. State of the art outboard motor dollies consist of wheels attached to a tubular frame comprising a false transom plate to which the outboard motor supporting bracket attaches (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. D301,654 and D335,744). These dollies are large and bulky and are not compact or lightweight. Previous designs also include smaller devices that mount onto or around the lower unit (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,811,942 and 2,822,183 and 4,044,978 and 4,570,960). Some such prior designs attach to the stem of the motor and enable enough support to stabilize the motor. By attempting to create a stable supporting structure, however, the outboard motor carrier again becomes bulky and heavy.
A simple and compact device for wheeling the outboard motor over surfaces is proposed which greatly facilitates the task of transporting a motor. Prior to the present invention no simple and compact device for performing this function has been developed.
The present outboard motor cart is characterized by attaching to the lower unit of an outboard motor by clamping onto the skeg of lower unit below the gear housing. The present cart comprises a horizontal support bracket upon which the weight of the outboard motor rests. Wheels are attached to said horizontal support bracket via wheel axles and in the preferred embodiment said wheels are positioned in a fore and aft configuration. An adjustable clamp attaches to the vertical skeg on lower unit of motor such that lateral roll, yaw, fore and aft, and lateral forces are transferred between cart and motor. The adjustable clamp also prevents the lower unit and motor from being removed from said cart by upward vertical motion when said clamp is tightened.
The present device enables the user to control the transport of motor by manually balancing and pushing the motor when placed onto cart. By wheel configuration being fore and aft, as opposed to side by side, lateral roll of the motor and cart occur together and are controlled by the handler. By cart and motor rotating together large righting moments from cart are not generated on the motor that could damage the lower unit, in contrast to previous designs that attempt to stabilize motor. This embodiment also enables directional control by user tilting the engine sideways during transport which creates yawing moments that change cart direction.
The outboard motor is lifted into cart, wherein the vertical skeg of the lower unit is inserted into the adjustable clamp of cart until the motor rests on the horizontal support bracket. The adjustable clamp may or may not be tightened in order to attach the cart to lower unit. The clamping mechanism generates a clamping force on skeg of lower unit because the cart itself is unstable when upright, and by holding the motor upright the clamp locks onto skeg as cart attempts to roll laterally. By balancing the motor in an upright manner, the user can then push the motor along a surface. The motor can be leaned up against a rigid structure during storage or lifted out of cart. The cart can be kept on the motor while in storage without significantly increasing the overall storage space required. The cart can be kept onboard boat when not in use due to its compact and lightweight nature. Such a cart has generic overall dimensions, for example, of length×width×height equal to 8 inches×4 inches×4 inches.
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In the preferred embodiment the wheels are placed fore and aft and the adjustable clamp and horizontal support bracket located vertically offset from said wheels. Placing the motor on cart thereby generates a moment on cart because weight of motor and wheels are not in vertical alignment. Said moment is counteracted by forces generated on the motor lower unit vertical skeg 6 by said cart adjustable clamp.
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Alternative embodiments include a clamp that is fixed in width, not adjustable in width. Alternative embodiments also include straightforward variations that utilize multiple components of said cart and forgoing components of said cart. It is further understood that simple variations or alterations of the invention made by one skilled in the art are covered by the appended claims.
