Boat drive

Abstract

A boat drive has an underwater housing (10) which is arranged outside of a boat hull (7) and can swivel relative to the boat hull (7) about a vertical swivel axis (11). In the housing at least one propeller shaft (13) is mounted and can be driven. A swivel drive mechanism is arranged in the inside space (6) of the boat hull (7) for swiveling the underwater housing (10) in order to control the driving direction of the boat. A zero-position mark (25) is provided on an element of the swivel drive mechanism, which facilitates easy determination of a zero position of the underwater housing (10).

Claims

1. A boat drive with an underwater housing (10) being arranged outside a boat hull (7) and swivelable relative to the boat hull (7) about a vertical swivel axis (11), at least one propeller shaft (13) being mounted to the underwater housing and being drivable, a swivel drive mechanism being arranged in an inside space (6) of the boat hull (7) for swiveling the underwater housing (10) in order to control a direction of the boat drive, the swivel drive mechanism comprising a swivel-restricting element (20) and a swivel control shaft (17) which are in drive connection with a swivel drive motor (21) and being fixedly connected to the underwater housing (10), a zero-position mark (25) being located either on the swivel-restricting element (20) or on the swivel control shaft (17), and the zero-position mark enabling easy determination of a zero position of the underwater housing (10), the swivel drive mechanism being arranged in a transmission housing (8) of the boat drive (1), and the transmission housing (8) having a viewing port through which the zero-position mark (25) is viewable, at least in the zero position.

2. The boat drive according to claim 1, wherein the zero-position mark (25) is located on the swivel-restricting element (20).

3. The boat drive according to claim 1, wherein the viewing port is positioned on the transmission housing (8) and is of a size such that the zero-position mark (25) is only recognizable in the zero position.

4. The boat drive according to claim 3, wherein the swivel drive mechanism has two end positions which are determined by at least one end-stop element (30) that is fixed on the transmission housing (8), and the end-stop element (30) co-operates with at least one stop surface (28, 29) on the swivel-restricting element (20).

5. The boat drive according to claim 4, wherein the end-stop element (30) has a damping assembly for damping the end position as the two end positions are approached.

6. The boat drive according to claim 1, wherein either the transmission housing (8) or the viewing port has a reference mark which corresponds with the zero-position mark (25) in the zero position.

7. The boat drive according to claim 1, wherein the zero-position mark (25) is a recess.

8. The boat drive according to claim 1, wherein the swivel control shaft (17) has at least one oil duct which, at least in the zero position, enables an oil change in the underwater housing (10) from the inside space (6) of the boat hull (7).

9. A boat drive for a boat, the boat drive comprising: an underwater housing being arranged outside a boat hull and being pivotable relative to the boat hull about a vertical swivel axis, and at least one propeller shaft (13) being rotatably supported within the underwater housing such that the underwater housing defines a drive direction of the boat; a swivel drive mechanism being arranged within an inside space of the boat hull for swiveling the underwater housing in order to control a drive direction of the boat; the swivel drive mechanism comprising a swivel-restricting element that is fixed to a swivel control shaft which is fixed to the underwater housing, the swivel-restricting element being driven by a swivel drive motor such that actuation of the swivel drive motor swivels the swivel-restricting element, the swivel control shaft and the underwater housing about the vertical swivel axis, and the underwater housing being swivelable about the vertical swivel axis between first and second end positions; a zero-position mark being located on either the swivel-restricting element or the swivel control shaft, the zero-position mark facilitating identification of a zero position of the underwater housing, the zero position of the underwater housing being defined as a swivel position of the underwater housing in which the drive direction of the boat is parallel to a longitudinal axis of the boat, the swivel drive mechanism being arranged in a transmission housing of a drive transmission and fixed relative to the boat hull, and the transmission housing having a viewing port through which the zero-position mark is viewable, at least when the underwater housing is in the zero position.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) Below, the invention and further advantages thereof are explained in greater detail with reference to the associated figures, which show:

(2) FIG. 1: A schematic sectioned representation of a boat drive according to the invention, viewed from the side, and

(3) FIG. 2: A schematic representation, sectioned along the section plane 2-2 shown in FIG. 1, of the boat drive according to the invention as viewed from above.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(4) The boat drive 1 shown in FIG. 1 comprises a drive motor 2, a motor drive output shaft 3 and a first transmission 4 which is designed as an angled, bevel gear transmission and transmits the drive power from the at least almost horizontally arranged motor drive output shaft 3 to an at least almost vertically arranged driveshaft 5. The drive motor 2, the motor drive output shaft 3 and the first transmission 4 are arranged in the inside space 6 of a boat hull 7. The drive motor 2 and the first transmission 4 are fixed inside the boat hull 7. To fix the transmission housing 8 of the first transmission 4 in the boat hull 7, the transmission housing 8 has fixing arms 9.

(5) Outside the boat hull 7 is arranged the underwater housing 10. It can be swiveled relative to the boat hull 7 about an at least approximately vertically arranged swivel axis 11. In FIG. 1 the swivel axis 11 together with the vertically extending driveshaft 5 are represented as a line. The driveshaft 5 connects the first transmission 4 inside the boat hull 7 to a second transmission 12, which is arranged outside the boat hull 7 and inside the underwater housing 10, and which is also in the form of an angled, bevel gear transmission. The second transmission 12 transmits the drive power of the boat drive 1 from the driveshaft 5 to the at least approximately horizontally arranged propeller shafts 13 and 14. At the drive output end, a respective propeller 15 or 16 is attached to each propeller shaft 13 and 14. In this case one propeller shaft 13 is in the form of a hollow shaft and is arranged concentrically over the other propeller shaft 14. Independently of the embodiment with two propellers, the present invention also covers embodiments that have only one propeller.

(6) The swivel drive mechanism for swiveling the underwater housing 10 relative to the boat hull 7 comprises a swivel drive motor 21, which by way of a swivel-restricting element 20 and a swivel control shaft 17 can swivel the underwater housing 10 within a certain swivel range. The swivel drive motor 21 is connected fixed to the transmission housing 8, whereas the swivel-restricting element 20 and the swivel control shaft 17 are mounted to rotate within the transmission housing 8 with the help of roller bearings 19, about the swivel axis 11. To power the swivel drive mechanism, the swivel drive motor 21 comprises a drive output pinion 24 with gearteeth 22, the gearteeth 22 being in driving connection with gearteeth 23 of the swivel-restricting element 20. In the drive connection between the swivel drive motor 21 and the swivel-restricting element 20 other transmission elements too may be arranged in order to produce a necessary drive input gear ratio of the swivel drive mechanism. Although the swivel control shaft 17 is part of the swivel drive mechanism arranged within the inside space 6, parts of the swivel control shaft 17 can also project slightly out of the boat hull 7 in the area where the swivel control shaft 17 is connected fixed to the underwater housing 10 arranged outside of the boat hull 7.

(7) The swivel-restricting element 20 is connected fixed to the swivel control shaft 17. The swivel control shaft 17 is in turn connected fixed to the underwater housing 10, so that when the underwater housing 10 swivels, it does so through exactly the same angle as the swivel-restricting element 20. In the example embodiment shown, the swivel control shaft 17 is bolted to the underwater housing 10 by means of fixing screw-bolts 18.

(8) The swivel-restricting element 20 has a circular-arc-shaped opening 27 in which a bolt fixed to the housing is arranged as an end-stop element 30, The bolt 30 is connected fixed to the transmission housing 8 and can even be made integrally with the transmission housing 8. For example, the bolt 30 can be made as part of a cast transmission housing 8.

(9) When the underwater housing 10 swivels, the opening 27 moves about the swivel axis 11 along a curved circular path together with the swivel-restricting element 20. When the respective end positions are reached, the stop surfaces 28 and 29 at the two ends of the arc-shaped opening 27 come up against the bolt 30 fixed to the housing, which bolt serves as an end-stop element. Thereby, the swivel range is restricted in both directions.

(10) FIG. 2 shows the swivel drive mechanism and with it the underwater housing 10 in their zero position. A zero-position mark 25 is made on the swivel-restricting element 20. In this case the zero-position mark 25 is made as a recess in the form of a blind hole in the swivel-restricting element 20.

(11) In the viewing port area X in FIG. 2, a view from outside the transmission housing 8 onto a viewing port 26 is shown. The viewing port 26 is arranged on the transmission housing in such manner that the zero-position mark 25 can be seen through the viewing port 26. This is made clear by the projection lines 31 in FIG. 2. The viewing port 26 is at least large enough for the zero-position mark 25 to be visible through the viewing port 26 when in the zero position.

(12) If the distance between the viewing port 26 in the transmission housing 8 and the zero-position mark 25 inside the transmission housing 8 is large, then at various viewing angles through the viewing port 26 undesired inaccuracies may occur when determining the zero position. This can be remedied by a reference mark (not shown here), which is made inside the transmission housing 8 close to the zero-position mark 25 on the transmission housing 8 or fixed to the housing on some other component. The correct zero position has then been set when the reference mark is opposite the zero-position mark 25, i.e. when the fixed reference mark on the housing is the shortest distance away from the zero-position mark 25 on the swivel-restricting element 20.

INDEXES

(13) 1 Boat drive 2 Drive motor 3 Motor drive output shaft 4 First transmission 5 Driveshaft 6 Inside space 7 Boat hull 8 Transmission housing 9 Fixing arm 10 Underwater housing 11 Swivel axis 12 Second transmission 13 Propeller shaft 14 Propeller shaft 15 Propeller 16 Propeller 17 Swivel control shaft 18 Fixing screw-bolt 19 Roller bearing 20 Swivel-restricting element 21 Swivel drive motor 22 Gearteeth 23 Gearteeth 24 Drive pinion 25 Zero-position mark 26 Viewing port 27 Opening 28 Stop surface 29 Stop surface 30 End-stop element 31 Projection lines X Viewing port area