US3076428A

US3076428A - Retractable continuous drive

Info

Publication number: US3076428A
Application number: US140308A
Authority: US
Inventors: Eugene E Shipley
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1961-09-25
Filing date: 1961-09-25
Publication date: 1963-02-05
Anticipated expiration: 1980-02-05

Description

Feb. 5, 1963 E. SHIPLEY 3,076,428

RETRACTABLE CONTINUOUS DRIVE Filed Sept. 25, 1961 (D #2 a g;

o I 8 F a a i n v N 5 IE I INVENTORI EUGENE E.SH|PLEY.

BY wim HIS ATTORNEY.

United States Patent f 3,076,428 RETRACTABLE CiJNTltNUOUS DRIVE Eugene E. Shipley, Middleton, Mass, assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New Yorlr Filed Sept. 25, 1961, Ser. No. 140,308 Claims. (Cl. 115-41) This invention relates to a retractable continuous drive mechanism, and more particularly to a retractable continuous drive mechanism which is particularly suitable for a propeller driven boat or the like.

Hydrofoil boats may generally be operated in two positions, either up on struts attached to water foils or on the hull like a conventional boat. t is desirable that such a boat be provided with an auxiliary power drive mechanism which will propel the craft either when it is supported by the foils or by the hull. Frequently, separate drive mechanisms have been employed for hydrofoil or hull operation. The present invention provides a retractable drive mechanism or propeller assembly which can be easily moved to remain at the same depth in the water while the boat hull is at different vertical levels, such as either on its foils or on its hull surface.

Accordingly, it is the primary object of the invention to provide an improved retractable propeller drive mechanism.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a retractable continuous drive mechanism that may be retracted while driving, without interruption of continuous power. Another object of the invention is to provide a retractable propeller assembly for boats or the like which may be continuously driven while the propeller is being raised or lowered to be operated in various positions.

Briefly stated, the invention relates to a retractable drive mechanism comprising an engine-driven vertical spline shaft and a vertically retractable propeller as sembly positioned in parallel relationship to the spline shaft. Power transmission means is slidably mounted on the spline shaft and carried by the propeller assembly to drive the propeller. In addition, servo means is provided to move the propeller assembly vertically in a direction parallel to the spline shaft.

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following specification and drawing in which the sole FIGURE is a sectional view of a retractable continuous drive mechanism incorporating the invention.

The retractable continuous drive mechanism of the invention is positioned ina housing 11, which may be firmly attached to the hull of a hydrofoil type boat which is partially shown at 12. A driving input from the engine (not shown) may be introduced to the retractable driving mechanism by means of a shaft 13 extending through a side wall of the housing 11. A spline shaft 14 is rotatably mounted in a vertically fixed position within the walls of the housing 11 by means of bearings 15 and 16 and is driven by input shaft 13 through bevel gears 17 and 18.

A propeller assembly shown generally at 20 is supported by the lower wall 21 of the casing 11. The propeller assembly 20 comprises a hollow strut 22 slidably mounted to extend vertically and parallel to spline shaft lidthrough the casing wall 21. The strut 22'supports a telescopic output shaft 23, a propeller pod 24, a propeller shaft 25, a propeller 26, and suitable means for transmitting torque to and from the shaft 23.

In the present embodiment, torque is transmitted to the output shaft 23 from the spline shaft 14 by a pair of spur gears 27 and 28. A gear box 29, attached to the upper end of hollow strut 22, houses the spur gears 27 and 28.

In accordance with the invention, spur 27 is slidably 3,676,428 Patented Feb. 5, i983 ice mounted on the spline shaft 14 and engages and drives spur gear 28, which is securely attached to output shaft 23. Gear box 29 is provided with an opening 3d through which spline shaft 14 passes, so that spur gear 27 is carried by gear box 29 as the propeller assembly 29 is moved up or down as will be hereinafter explained.

Describing the propeller assembly Ell in more detail, it can be seen by the drawing that the output shaft 23 is formed of a hollow cylinder 31 slidably positioned around a vertical piston member 32. The lower end 33 of the piston member 32 is formed to fit snugly within the hollow portion 29. The piston member 32 is rotatably mounted by suitable bearings 34 in the top wall of casing 11, and the hollow cylinder 31 is rotatably mounted in bearings 35 supported by propeller pod 2d. The hollow cylinder 31 carries torque from spur gear 28 to a bevel gear 36 on its lower end. An additional bevel gear 37 cooperates with bevel gear 36 to drive propeller shaft 25 and propeller 26.

It will be appreciated that with the mechanism as heretofore described, the propeller assembly 26 carrying spur gear 27 is not firmly attached to spline shaft 14 and may be moved in a direction parallel to the spline shaft, if means for moving the propeller assembly 20 are provided, such as a servo arrangement. One means to accomplish this is to utilize the hollow cylinder 31 and piston member 32 of shaft 23 as a hydraulic cylinder and piston arrangement. To move the cylinder 31 of output shaft 23 either downwardly or upwardly, hydraulic fluid may be admitted to either side of the piston head 33. One means of accomplishing this is through the use of a pipe 43 connected to supply hydraulic fluid through a central conduit 32a in piston 32 to a lower chamber 38 below piston head 33. Fluid is supplied to a chamber 46 on the top side of piston head 33 through a sealed annulus id and a flexible hose 55. introducing hydraulic fluid into the lower chamber 38, defined by cylinder 31 and piston head 33, will cause the hollow shaft portion and thus the entire propeller assembly 26 to move downwardly. Alternately, applying fluid to chamber is will cause the cylinder 31 and the propeller assembly 20 to retract or move upwardly. As the propeller assembly 20 is moved, gear box 29 also moves. Thus the spur gear 27 slides on spline shaft 1 Gear 27, of course, remains engaged with spur gear 23 securely attached to cylinder 31 of shaft 23. Cylinder 31 thus continuously transmits torque to propeller 26.

It should be noted that although spur gear 28 is attached to the torque transmitting cylinder 31 of shaft 23, the piston member 32 of the shaft rotates with the cylinder, since the upper end piston 32 is mounted on bearings 34. The friction between the contacting surfaces of the two shaft portions is sufficient to cause the piston 32 to rotate with the cylinder 31.

Since the retractable strut 22 passes through the lower wall 21 of the housing extending into the water, suitable seals 39 and 4i) may be provided adjacent the strut bearings 4i and 42 to prevent leakage into or out of the casing 11.

Thus, it will be appreciated that a retractable continuous drive mechanism has been described by which propeller 24 may be continuously driven while it is being moved upwardly or downwardly by the hydraulic servomechanism. The propeller assembly 20 may be conveniently and quickly moved into an extended position whereby it may be used to drive the boat 12 when it is supported by the hydrofoils, or the assembly may be retracted to the position shown in the drawing to drive the boat when it is supported by its hull.

To relieve the continuous duty of the servo mechanism if the boat is to be operated for any extended period of time in the retracted positionor the extended position,

a locking device (not shown) could be provided to hold the retractable assembly 20 fixed relative to the housing 11. In this manner, the continuous retractable drive would be converted into a stationary drive and the servo mechanism could be shut off until the retractable feature was required again.

The retractable drive mechanism has been shown and described as a power source for a hydrofoil type boat. However, it should be appreciated that the mechanism may be utilized in any application wherein a retractable drive arrangement is desired. It should further be appreciated that while the mechanism has been shown and described in a vertical position, it may, of course, be operated in different attitudes in that it is only essential that the retractable assembly 20 be moved in a parallel direction with respect to spline shaft 14. It should be understood that the particular propeller pod and bevel gear arrangement here described is merely exemplary and that a variety of arrangements may be employed involving more or less complexity. Also, as mentioned before, a variety of servo means may be provided to move the propeller assembly in a direction parallel to spline shaft 11, and the invention is not limited to the hydraulic arrangement shown.

Therefore, it will be appreciated that the particular embodiments described are primarily examples of the invention, and it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that many changes and modifications may be made without departing from the invention in its broader aspects.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

l. A retractable continuous drive mechanism comprising:

(a) a housing,

(I?) a driven spline power shaft rotatably mounted within said housing,

() a retractable propeller assembly including:

(1) a propeller shaft,

(2) a propeller mounted on said propeller shaft and,

(3) an output shaft coupled to said propeller shaft for driving said propeller, said output shaft being parallel to, displaced from, and driven by said spline power shaft,

(d) power transmission means slidably mounted on said spline power shaft and carried by said propeller assembly to drive said assembly, and

(e) servo means to slide said propeller assembly through said housing wall in a direction parallel to said spline shaft.

2. The mechanism of claim 1 in which said transmission means comprises a driving gear slidably mounted on said spline shaft and a driven gear fixed to said output shaft.

3. A retractable continuous drive mechanism comprising:

(a) a housing,

(b) a driven spline shaft rotatably mounted within said housing,

(c) a retractable propeller assembly comprising:

(1) a telescopic output shaft parallel to, displaced from and driven by said spline shaft,

(2) a hollow strut surrounding and rotatably supporting said output shaft and slidably extending through a wall of said housing and,

(3) a propeller coupled to be driven by said output shaft,

(d) power transmission means slidably mounted on said spline shaft and carried by said propeller assembly to drive the assembly and,

(e) servo means to slide said propellerassembly through said housing wall in a direction parallel to said spline shaft.

4. The mechanism of claim 3 in which said servo means comprises said output shaft having a hollow cylindrical portion rotatably mounted in said housing and a piston portion slidably mounted inside said cylindrical portion and dividing said cylindrical portion into separate chambers, and said servo means including means to selectively introduce fluid to said chambers to thereby slide said strut through said housing in a direction parallel to said spline shaft.

5. The mechanism of claim 3 in which said output shaft has a first portion one end of which is rotatably mounted in said housing and the opposite end of which is enlarged to form a piston, and said output shaft has a hollow second portion slidably mounted around said piston to thus form a chamber on each side of said piston, said hollow strut surrounding and rotatably supporting said second portion of said output shaft and slidably extending through a wall of said housing, and in which said servo means includes means to selectively introduce hydraulic fluid to said chambers to thereby slide said strut through said housing in a direction parallel to said spline shaft.

6. The mechanism of claim 3 in which said output shaft has a first portion one end of which is rotatably mounted in said housing and the opposite end of which is enlarged to form a piston, and said output shaft has a hollow second portion slidably mounted around said piston to thus form a chamber on each side of said piston, said hollow strut surrounding and rotatably supporting said second portion of said output shaft and slidably extending through a wall of said housing, and in which said servo means includes means to selectively introduce hy-- draulic fluid to said chambers to thereby slide said strut thorugh said housing wall in a direction parallel to said spline shaft, and in which said transmission means comprises a driving gear slidably mounted on said spline shaft and a driven gear fixed to said second portion of said output shaft.

7. The mechanism of claim 3 in which said output shaft is axially movable.

8. The mechanism of claim 7 in which a pod is mounted on one end of said strut supporting said propeller and a propeller shaft driven by said output shaft.

9. The mechanism of claim 7 in which said transmission means comprises a driving gear slidably mounted on said spline shaft and a driven gear fixed to said output shaft.

10. In a power transmission for continuously driving a retractable propeller assembly, the combination of a housing, a first vertical spline shaft rotatably disposed in said housing, a power means for continuously rotating said spline shaft, a retractable propeller pod assembly having a hollow supporting strut slidably disposed through a tom wall portion of said housing for movement vertically and parallel to the axis of said spline shaft, a propeller rotatably disposed in said pod assembly, an output shaft parallel to and displaced from said spline shaft and rotatably disposed in said strut, said output shaft connected to drive said propeller, gear means connecting said output shaft to be continuously driven by said first shaft and comprising a gear housing connected to the upper end portion of said slidable strut and containing a first gear fixed to said output shaft and driven by a second gear slidably disposed on said first spline shaft to be contin' uously driven thereby, and servo means for causing said strut to slide vertically in the housing while the output shaft is continuously driven by said gear means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,124,645 Overton Jan. 12, 1915 1,823,735 Glasby Sept. 15, 1931 2,479,119 Johnson Aug. 16, 1949 2,984,197 Bader May 16, 1961 FOREIGN PATENTS 526,415 Italy May 17, 1955 793,410 Great Britain Apr. 16, 958.

Claims

1. A RETRACTABLE CONTINUOUS DRIVE MECHANISM COMPRISING: (A) A HOUSING, (B) A DRIVEN SPLINE POWER SHAFT ROTATABLY MOUNTED WITHIN SAID HOUSING, (C) A RETRACTABLE PROPELLER ASSEMBLY INCLUDING: (1) A PROPELLER SHAFT, (2) A PROPELLER MOUNTED ON SAID PROPELLER SHAFT AND, (3) AN OUTPUT SHAFT COUPLED TO SAID PROPELLER SHAFT FOR DRIVING SAID PROPELLER, SAID OUTPUT SHAFT BEING PARALLEL TO, DISPLACED FROM, AND DRIVEN BY SAID SPLINE POWER SHAFT,