JPH0128257B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Technical Field of the Invention] The present invention relates to a power switching device for an outboard motor, and in particular to an outboard motor power switching device that can improve the followability and operational feel of a switching mechanism during switching operations. This invention relates to a power switching device.

[Technical background of the invention and its problems]

Normal rotation (forward rotation) of the propeller in a conventional outboard motor,
As partially shown in FIG. 5, the switching mechanism for switching between reverse (reverse) and neutral positions is operated by vertically operating the shift rod 1 to move the shift cam 2.
is moved, and any one of the forward position F, neutral position N, and reverse position R formed by the cam surface of the cam 2 pushes the push rod 3 or pushes the dog pin 5 back by the return spring 4.
The shifter dog 6 is moved back and forth through the gear, and the dog 6a of the shifter dog 6 is brought into engagement with the dogs 7a and 8a of the forward gear 7 or the reverse gear 8, or a neutral position where the dog 6a is not engaged with either of them. When the dog 7a or 8a of either gear 7 or 8 is engaged, the propeller shaft 10 is rotated forward or reverse from the drive shaft 9 through the gear 7 or 8.

By the way, the first drawback of the conventional power switching device for an outboard motor as described above is that, for example, when the shift cam 2 is moved from the neutral position N to the reverse position R and the shifter dog 6 meshes with the reverse gear 8, the shift cam 2 If the speed at which the is operated is slow,
When the shifter dog 6 and the reverse gear 8 are not engaged with each other, the corners of the dogs 6a and 8a hit each other, which accelerates wear and gives a poor operational feel.

A second drawback is that if the shifter dog 6 is moved to the neutral or forward position while the engine is in the reverse position R and the engine speed is increased, the shifter dog 6 will move to the neutral or forward position by the force of the return spring 4. At this time, the force of the return spring 4 may not move the shifter dog 6 because the contact pressure caused by the dog meshing between the shifter dog 6 and the reverse gear 8 is high. Therefore, conventionally dogs 6a and 8a are generally used.
A structure is adopted in which the meshing angle of the shifter dog 6 is made a positive angle and the shifter dog 6 is pushed toward the neutral side by the dog surface pressure, but even with this, it takes a certain amount of time before the shifter dog 6 returns to the neutral position. There is also the problem that the required time is not stable due to the slight influence of the surface roughness of the dog surface, and if the positive angle is made too large, slippage between the shift cam 6 and the push rod 3 may occur. This results in accelerated wear.

In order to eliminate the above-mentioned first drawback, as shown in FIG. 6, the middle of the shift rod 1 is configured to be extendable and retractable, and a spring 11 is interposed between the connecting portions, and a detent mechanism 12 is provided.
There is a system in which the shifter dog 6 is moved from the neutral position to the reverse position at a high speed by the force of the spring 11 regardless of the operating speed of the shifter, but this does not solve the second drawback. When moving from the forward position to the neutral position, a problem similar to the second drawback will occur. Note that these drawbacks are also present even if the shift cam 2 is not of a linear structure but is a rotary cam 2' as partially shown in FIG.

[Purpose of the invention]

The present invention has been made for the purpose of providing a power switching device for an outboard motor that can eliminate not only the first drawback of the prior art described above but also the second drawback.

[Summary of the invention]

In order to achieve the above object, in this invention, the shifter dog is moved by the movement of the shift cam, and the shifter dog is brought into mesh with the forward gear or reverse gear and moved to the neutral position, so that the rotation of the drive shaft is forwardly rotated to the propeller shaft. In a power switching device for an outboard motor that reverses or neutralizes, a clutch mechanism is interposed between a shift rod and a clutch rod that are connected to a shift cam, and this clutch mechanism connects the middle part of the inner hole to a small diameter hole part. a clutch housing, a shift spring housing fitted into the upper and lower large diameter holes of the clutch housing, a shift plunger whose large diameter parts at the upper and lower ends are fitted into these shift spring housings, and each shift spring housing. a shift spring inserted between the inner bottom part of the shift spring housing and the large diameter part of the shift plunger, and a lock ball that is housed in a hole bored in the peripheral wall of the shift spring housing and can be freely engaged and detached from a groove in the large diameter part of the shift plunger. , a detent mechanism for positioning the shift spring housing in a neutral position, and the shift cam is moved via the shift spring when the shifter dog is engaged, and not via the shift spring when the shifter dog is disengaged. It is.

[Embodiments of the invention]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, with the same reference numerals assigned to the same members as in FIG. 5.

FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal cross-section of one embodiment of the present invention, in which a clutch mechanism 1 is disposed above a shift rod 1.
3 is provided, and a housing 14 of this clutch mechanism 13 is fixed to a case 15.

The shift cam 2 at the lower end of the shift rod 1 consists of a cam groove 16 cut into the shift cam member, and a pin 18 of a slide shifter 17 is supported in this cam groove 16 so as to be slidable in a direction perpendicular to the direction of movement of the shift cam 2. is inserted into the slide shifter 17 and connected to the shifter dog 6 via a slide pin 19 connected to the slide shifter 17.The shift cam 2 and the slide shifter 17 are directly connected to each other without providing a direct return spring 4 to the shifter dog 6. The structure is such that the shifter dog 6 is moved in the opposite direction.

As shown in an enlarged cross section in FIG. 2, the clutch mechanism 13 includes a clutch housing 14, upper and lower large diameter holes 14a of the clutch housing 14,
Shift spring housings 20 and 21 are fitted into the shift spring housings 20 and 21, respectively, and a shift plunger 2 whose large diameter portions 22a and 22b at the upper and lower ends are fitted into the shift spring housings 20 and 21, respectively.
2, and the shift spring housing 20, 2.
The shift springs 23 and 24 are located inside the housings 20 and 21 and bias the shift plunger 22 in the upward direction. Large diameter plunger lock balls 27, 28
and a detent mechanism 29 that temporarily fixes the shift spring housing 21 in the neutral position, and the plunger lock balls 27, 2.
8 is the large diameter portion 14a, 1 of the clutch housing 14.
4b, the shift plunger 22 comes off from the grooves 30, 31 of the large diameter parts 22a, 22b, and when it is located in the small diameter part 14c, it engages with the grooves 30, 31, and the shift spring housings 20, 21 and the shift plunger 22 are now integrated. 32 is the shift spring housing 20
The clutch rod is connected to the upper end of the 1st
The configuration of other parts in the figure is almost the same as that in FIG. 5, so detailed explanation thereof will be omitted.

Next, the effect will be explained.

In FIG. 2, in order to move from the neutral position N to the forward position F and drive the hull forward, pushing the clutch rod 32 causes the shift plunger 2 to move through the shift spring housing 20.
2 is pressed, at this time plunger lock ball 2
8 does not engage with the groove 31 of the large diameter portion 22b of the shift plunger 22 because the inner diameter of the clutch housing 14 is large, but becomes free relative to the shift spring housing 21, pushes the shift spring 24, stores energy, and releases the detent mechanism 29. When the spring force is overcome, push down the shift rod 1 strongly. As a result, the shifter dog 6 jumps into the dog 7a of the forward gear 7 at a high speed, and the dogs mesh smoothly. Also, even if the upper surfaces of the dogs 6a and 7a collide, the shift spring 2
Since the deflection in step 3 allows the dog to wait until the next engagement period, no unreasonable impact force is applied to the corner of the dog. Note that in this action, the operating speed has no relation to the operating speed of the shifter dog 6.

Next, when returning from the forward position F to the neutral position N, as shown in FIG. The shift spring housing 20 is engaged with the groove 30 of the large diameter portion 22a.
and shift plunger 22 are fixed together via a plunger lock ball 27. Therefore, when the clutch rod 32 is pulled up, the shift plunger 22 is moved without going through the shift spring 23.
is pulled up rigidly. At this time, since the shift plunger 22 and the shift spring housing 21 are integrally determined, the shift rod 1 moves together with the clutch rod 32, and as a result, the shifter dog 6 remains on the gear side due to the surface pressure with the dog 7a of the forward gear 7. It is forcibly returned to the neutral position without any hesitation.

In addition, from neutral position N to reverse position R
(FIG. 4), and the same operation as described above is also performed for movement from the reverse position R to the neutral position N.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, according to the present invention, when the shifter dog is engaged with a gear, the accumulated force of the shift spring is used to engage the shifter dog, and when returning to neutral, the engagement is forcibly disengaged without using the shift spring. This prevents the dog from rapidly jumping in due to the spring force of the shift spring and hitting the corner of the dog when it engages, which prevents the dog from wearing out and improves the operating feel. When the dog is released, it is forcibly removed by the surface pressure of the dog without leaving anything behind, and the mesh can be reliably released.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal side view showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a longitudinal side view showing the clutch mechanism in the neutral state in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal side view showing the same forward state. Figure 4 is a vertical side view showing the same reverse state, Figure 5 is a vertical side view showing the conventional power switching device, Figure 6 is a vertical side view showing another example of the same, and Figure 7 is a vertical side view showing the conventional power switching device. It is a partial sectional view showing another example of the same shift cam. 1...Shift rod, 2...Shift cam, 3...
...Putshurodzudo, 6...Shiftadotsugu, 7...
Forward gear, 8... Reverse gear, 9... Drive shaft, 10... Propeller shaft, 13... Clutch mechanism, 14... Housing, 17... Slide shifter, 20, 21... Shift spring housing, 22... Shift plunger, 23, 24
...Shift spring, 27, 28...Plunger lock ball, 29...Detent mechanism, 30,
31...groove, 32...kratsrod.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An outboard boat that moves the shifter dog by moving the shift cam, engages the shifter dog with the forward gear or reverse gear, or moves it to the neutral position to transmit the rotation of the drive shaft to the propeller shaft, making the propeller shaft rotate forward, reverse, or neutral. In a power switching device for a machine, a clutch mechanism is interposed between a shift rod and a clutch rod that are linked to a shift cam. A pair of shift spring housings are fitted into each other from a small diameter hole to upper and lower large diameter holes so as to be slidable in the axial direction, and a large diameter part at the upper and lower ends is fitted into each of these shift spring housings.
a shift spring inserted between the lower bottom of each shift spring housing and the large diameter part of the shift plunger; a plunger lock ball that can be freely engaged and detached from a groove in the large diameter part of the shift plunger so as to restrain the shift plunger when the shift plunger is located in the small diameter part of the shift rod; and a detent that positions the shift spring housing fixed to the shift rod in the neutral position. When the clutch rod is operated from the neutral position to the forward or reverse position, the plunger lock ball is released from the large diameter groove below or above the seat plunger, and the clutch rod is housed in each shift spring housing. The plunger lock ball is resiliently connected to the shift rod via a lower or upper shift spring attached to the clutch rod, while the plunger lock ball is connected to the upper or lower large diameter portion of the shift plunger when the clutch rod is returned from the forward or reverse position to the neutral position. is locked in the groove of
A clutch rod is a power switching device for an outboard motor that is rigidly connected to a shift rod without using a spring.