Patent Grant
7261605
The present invention relates to a trolling device of a marine gear, more specifically to a trolling device which can reduce the operational force of a trolling lever.
Small crafts, such as fishing boats, fishing leisure boats, and the like, are frequently required to travel at quite low-speeds for some uses. For example, the following cases can be cited: stopping at fishing grounds; crafts stopping at a fixed point against a current without anchoring; traveling at a slow speed in accordance with the net hauling speed so as not to apply an excessive load to the net and to avoid tangling the net around the propeller during net hauling, etc.
As a device for achieving such travel, a trolling device mounted on a speed reducing and reversing apparatus provided with a friction disc hydraulic clutch is conventionally known (Patent Document 1).
The trolling device is so constituted that the speed of the craft can be adjusted by alternatively selecting an oil pressure at which a clutch can be fully connected and an oil pressure at which the clutch can be incompletely connected (half-clutch state) by rotating an operation lever.
With increase in engine outputs in marine gears, higher capacity of transmission torque is required. Increasing the number of friction discs in the clutches or the like can increase the capacity of the transmission torque, but doing so may cause problems such as an increased size of the marine gear body.
Accordingly, in order to increase the capacity of the transmission torque and also maintain the size of the marine gear body, the surface pressure of the friction discs needs to be raised to increase of the oil pressure setting of the marine gear.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H06-80098
However, when the oil pressure setting of the marine gear is raised, a greater operational force is required for rotating the trolling lever to attain a trolling state in the trolling device, producing the problem of poor operability or the like.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a trolling device which can reduce the operational force of the trolling lever, while increasing the oil pressure setting of the marine gear and the capacity of the transmission torque.
As a means for solving the problems, a trolling device according to the present invention is for controlling a clutch oil pressure by rotationally operating a trolling lever, the trolling device having a pressure reducing valve for reducing the clutch oil pressure and a low speed valve for adjusting the spring force a pilot spring of the pressure reducing valve in conjunction with the trolling lever, the low speed valve comprising a spool connected on the trolling lever unrotatably relative to a lever shaft of the trolling lever and freely slidably along the shaft, the spool having one end being in contact with the pilot spring, and the other end receiving primary pressure oil of the pressure reducing valve, a notch groove for discharging the pressure oil into a drain depending on the angle of rotational operation of the trolling lever being formed on a land of the spool, the trolling device being so constituted that forward and reverse clutches are fully engaged by bringing the notch groove into a closed position and a trolling state is attained by bringing the notch groove into an open position, the pressure reducing valve comprising a spool provided with a pilot oil pressure chamber and an orifice formed therein, the pilot oil pressure chamber using the secondary pressure oil of the pressure reducing valve as a pilot pressure and the orifice for draining oil from the pilot oil pressure chamber to a drain, the low speed valve having a protrusion which extends inside a coil spring constituting the pilot spring to the side of the pressure reducing valve and comes into contact with the pressure reducing valve at least when the forward and reverse clutches are fully engaged, the protrusion having a drain oil passage which comes into communication with the orifice when in contact with the pressure reducing valve during trolling to discharge drain oil from the orifice.
According to the present invention, the protrusion formed on the low speed valve is brought into contact with the pressure reducing valve through the inside of the pilot spring, whereby the contact area of the low speed valve can be reduced and lowered operability of the trolling lever by raising the oil pressure setting of the marine gear can be prevented.
Embodiments of the trolling device according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that similar components are referred to by the identical numerals throughout the drawings including prior art components.
The forward clutch 2a and reverse clutch 2b, of which detailed illustration is omitted, are both constituted of friction discs and steel plates which are alternately disposed (refer to
It is also designed to enable trolling by adjusting the pressing force of the hydraulic pistons 2c to allow the friction disc to slip against the steel plate to produce a so-called half-clutch state.
A method of providing an hydraulic oil comprises the steps of supplying the oil to a trolling device 20 by highly pressurizing a hydraulic oil of an oil tank 5 by a pump 7, adjusting the hydraulic pressure at the trolling device 20, feeding the hydraulic oil under the adjusted pressure from a forward/reverse directional control valve 8 to the hydraulic pistons 2c through oil circuits 10a, 10b to transmit rotational force for advancing or reversing the propeller 4 by operating a forward clutch 2a or a reverse clutch 2b.
Moreover, a loose-fitting valve 11 is provided for preventing the forward and reverse clutches 2a, 2b from abruptly engaging when the forward/reverse directional control valve 8 is switched. In the
The loose-fitting valve 11 is a type of pressure control valves, and is operated by a two position control valve 14 using the oil pressure of an forward oil circuit 10a and reverse oil circuit 10b as a pilot pressure. This two position control valve 14 comprises a cylinder 14a, a piston 14b and a return spring 14c. When an pressure oil flows to the forward oil circuit 10a and reverse oil circuit 10b and the oil pressure in the cylinder 14a is increased, the piston 14b moves to switch the switching valve 14 so that the hydraulic oil under a flow rate controlled by the restrictor 14d flows. After the oil is forced into the pilot oil pressure chamber of the loose-fitting valve 11 and the forward/reverse directional control valve 8 is switched, the biasing force of a relief spring is gradually increased, that is, the relief pressure setting of the loose-fitting valve 11 is gradually increased via a control piston until a predetermined time is reached. In the position where the biasing force of the spring is maximized, the pressure at which the clutch is fully engaged is attained. Moreover, the device is so constituted that when the oil pressure is cut, the switching valve 14 brought back into a neutral state by the biasing force of the return spring 14c, which stops the flow of the hydraulic oil and the control piston of the loose-fitting valve 11 is reset to its original position.
That is, when the forward/reverse directional control valve 8 is in a neutral position, the two position control valve 14 is also in a neutral state, preventing the pressure oil from being supplied to the pilot oil pressure chamber of the loose-fitting valve 11. At this time, the spool of the loose-fitting valve 11 is therefore retracted to a great extent to serve as the relief valve with a low relief pressure, and part of the pressure oil provided from the pump 7 is discharged by the relief operation of the loose-fitting valve 11 and released to a lubricating oil path 10c through the oil cooler 12.
It should be noted that the oil pressure released from the loose-fitting valve 11 into the lubricating oil path 10c is defined by the lubricating oil pressure setting relief valve 13 to a predetermined low pressure.
When a forward/reverse control lever 8a is operated to switch the forward/reverse directional control valve 8 to a forward or reverse position, the two position control valve 14 is also moved by the piston 14b by using the pressure of the hydraulic oil which begins to flow through the oil circuits 10a, 10b as a pilot pressure. Thereby, the oil passage is opened, and simultaneously the flow rate is controlled by the restrictor 14d provided in the two position control valve 14. The hydraulic oil is therefore forced into the pilot oil pressure chamber of the loose-fitting valve 11 via the hydraulic circuit 10d. This forcing of the oil moves the spool forward to gradually increase relief pressure, thereby gradually closing the lubricating oil path 10c. As reflex action of the gradually closing action, the hydraulic oil pressures of the forward and reverse clutches 2a, 2b are gradually increased, thereby avoiding sudden contact of the clutches. Finally, the clutches 2a, 2b are completely pressed by a high pressure to fully transmit the driving force.
It should be noted that in the forward/reverse directional control valve 8, as shown in
Herein, hydraulic oil escapes into a drain through a gap between the outer peripheral surface of the rotation spool 8d of the forward/reverse directional control valve 8 and the cylindrical sliding surface 8e receiving the rotation spool 8d. The amount escaping into the drain increases in proportion to the increase in oil pressure. When the escaping amount excessively increases due to highly pressurized hydraulic oil, the amount of oil passing through the oil cooler 12 decreases and a lubricating oil temperature is therefore raised, resulting in a problem of lowered durability. As mentioned above, such a problem can be overcome by providing the seal ring 8c.
Although not illustrated, the two position control valve 4 mentioned above may be an electromagnetic valve. In this case, the operation of the directional control valve is controlled by a forward/reverse engagement sensor (not shown) which comprises a contact switch, a pressure sensor or the like that interlocks with the forward/reverse control lever 8a.
The low speed valve 22 comprises a spring receiving recess 22d for receiving the pilot spring 24 formed thereon. Within the spring receiving recess 22d is formed a protrusion 22a which extends inside a coil spring constituting the pilot spring 24 to the side of the pressure reducing valve 23. The protrusion 22a may be a single piece or separate pieces as shown in
The pressure reducing valve 23 comprises a pilot oil pressure chamber 23b provided inside the spool 23s. In the pilot oil pressure chamber 23b is disposed an adjusting spring 29 with a spring force lower than that of the pilot spring 24. The spring force of the adjusting spring 29 is adjustable by an adjusting screw 31.
In the low speed valve 22, the spool 22s is connected to a trolling lever 25 unrotatably about the axis of the trolling lever and axially freely slidably. Specifically, the spool 22s and the trolling lever 25 are coupled by a pin 27, and the pin 27 is freely slidably engaged with a key groove 26a of the trolling lever 25.
One end of the spool 22s is in contact with the pilot spring 24, while the other end receives pressure oil (corresponding to the primary pressure oil of the pressure reducing valve 23) from an oil gallery A. A triangular notch groove 22b for discharging the pressure oil into a drain oil gallery B depending on the angle of rotational operation of the trolling lever 25 is formed on the land of the spool 22s.
The pilot oil pressure chamber 23b is formed inside the spool 23s of the pressure reducing valve 23, and an orifice 23c for draining oil through a drain oil gallery F via an oil gallery E is formed from the pilot oil pressure chamber 23b.
The protrusion 22a has a drain oil passage 22c which comes in communication with the orifice 23c to discharge drain oil from the orifice 23c when in contact with the pressure reducing valve 23 during trolling described later.
An oil pressure adjusting method of the trolling device 20 will be described with reference to
The pressure required for the movement of the pressure reducing valve 23 mentioned above relates to the oil pressure applied to the low speed valve 22, pilot spring 24, adjusting spring 29 and the oil pressure applied to the pilot oil pressure chamber 23b of the pressure reducing valve 23.
Firstly, in the state of
In such a state that the low speed valve 22 is positioned on the leftmost side, the biasing force of the pilot spring 24 disposed between the low speed valve 22 and pressure reducing valve 23 becomes large. Hence, the pressure reducing valve 23 becomes unable to move to the right to allow the spool valve 23a to block the oil passage from the oil gallery C to D. This makes the pressure of hydraulic oil which acts on the forward and reverse clutches 2a, 2b high and thus makes the clutches fully engaged, not producing a half-clutch state. In this state, the protrusion 22a is in contact with the pressure reducing valve 23 only at a contact surface E. Therefore, this contact surface E receives all the pressure by the primary pressure oil pushing the low speed valve 22 to the left.
Secondly, when the trolling lever 25 is rotated, a lever shaft 26 and a pin 27 engaging a key groove 26a provided on the lever shaft 26 rotates, and the low speed valve 22 integrated with the pin 27 rotates. When the low speed valve 22 is rotated in this manner to bring the triangular notch groove 22b and the oil gallery B into positions where they can be in communication (open position), the primary pressure oil from the oil gallery A is discharged from the oil gallery B via the triangular notch groove 22b. This lowers the pressure pushing the spool 22s by the primary pressure oil. The low speed valve 22 therefore moves to the right in the
In contrast, when the low speed valve 22 moves to the right side in the
In this manner, the oil passage from the oil gallery C to the oil gallery D is repeatedly opened and closed. This prevents an increase in the pressure of the hydraulic oil in the forward and reverse clutches 2a, 2b. This produces a half-clutch state, reduces the number of revolutions of the propeller 4 regardless of the rotational speed of the engine 1, producing a trolling state. It should be noted that since the spools 22s and 23s reciprocate in a trolling state as mentioned above, the protrusion 22a of the low speed valve 22 is repeatedly brought in contact with and away from the pressure reducing valve 23.
As mentioned above, in order to change the state that the clutch is completely engaged to a half-clutch state, that is, a trolling state, the low speed valve 22 needs to be moved to the right in the
Herein, in a known trolling device shown in
However, in the trolling device 20 according to this embodiment, the contact surface E is formed of the pressure reducing valve 23 and the protrusion 22a which is formed on the low speed valve. Therefore, the contact area is smaller than in known devices, and the force for operating the trolling lever 25 can be reduced. Moreover, the protrusion 22a ensures the drain oil passage from the orifice 23c, while its contact area with the pressure reducing valve 23 is reduced since the drain oil passage 22c is formed, whereby the force for operating the trolling lever 25 can be further reduced.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005-218437 | Jul 2005 | JP | national |
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4378219 | Tanaka | Mar 1983 | A |
| 4820209 | Newman | Apr 1989 | A |
| 5018996 | Newman et al. | May 1991 | A |
| 5171170 | Ridder et al. | Dec 1992 | A |
| 5639272 | Henderson et al. | Jun 1997 | A |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| A-H06-80098 | Mar 1994 | JP |
| A-H06-201029 | Jul 1994 | JP |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20070026748 A1 | Feb 2007 | US |
