Jet-propelled watercraft

Details Jet-propelled watercraft Jet-propelled watercraft

2002-08-14

2004-05-04

Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)

Marine propulsion

Jet drive

Direction control for fluid jet

C440S042000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06729918

ABSTRACT:

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
The present application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 to Japanese Patent Application No. 2001-284060, filed Sep. 18, 2001, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a jet-propelled watercraft in which a jet nozzle for jetting water is provided at a stern, a steering nozzle is additionally provided for the jet nozzle, and a reverse bucket is vertically swingably provided behind the steering nozzle.
2. Description of Background Art
Jet-propelled watercrafts are known. One example is disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 3121333 entitled “Water Jet propulsion unit”. The jet-propelled watercraft disclosed in this document will be described in detail with reference to
FIG. 14
, which is recited from FIG. 3 of JP 3121333. It is to be noted that reference numerals are newly given in the following figure for the sake of convenience.
FIG. 14
is a side view showing an essential portion of the related art jet-propelled watercraft disclosed in the above-described document. A jet-propelled watercraft
100
includes a jet propulsion unit
101
at a stern. A steering nozzle
102
is provided behind the jet propulsion unit
101
in such a manner as to be swingable in the lateral direction around upper and lower supporting shafts
103
. A reverse bucket
104
is provided behind the steering nozzle
102
in such a manner as to be swingable in the vertical direction around left and right supporting shafts
105
.
When the jet-propelled watercraft
100
is to be propelled forward, an operating cable
106
is operated, to swing the reverse bucket
104
around the supporting shafts
105
as shown by an arrow, thereby shifting the reverse bucket
104
to a forward position P
3
located over the steering nozzle
102
. This causes a water stream to be jetted in a rearward direction from an outlet
102
a
of the steering nozzle
102
, thus propelling the jet-propelled watercraft forward.
On the other hand, when the jet-propelled watercraft
100
is to be propelled in reverse, the operating cable
106
is operated, to swing the reverse bucket
104
around the supporting shafts
105
, thereby shifting the reverse bucket
104
to a reverse position P
4
on the outlet
102
a
side of the steering nozzle
102
, that is, the position shown in FIG.
14
. This cause a result that a water stream jetted from the outlet
102
a
of the steering nozzle
102
is introduced forward as shown by an arrow, thus propelling the jetpropelled watercraft
100
in reverse.
In addition, a tensile spring
107
is used as means for holding the reverse bucket
104
at the forward position P
3
and the reverse position P
4
.
The jet-propelled watercraft
100
shown in
FIG. 14
has a problem in that the operating cable
106
for operating the reverse bucket
104
must be disposed over the jet propulsion unit
101
. As a result, a containing space
108
for disposing the operating cable
106
is required over the jet propulsion unit. This makes it difficult to achieve a low center of gravity of the jet-propelled watercraft
100
.
An object of the present invention is to provide a jet-propelled watercraft capable of eliminating the need for having an operating cable connected to a reverse bucket disposed in a space over a jet propulsion unit.
SUMMARY AND OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides a jet-propelled watercraft, wherein a jet nozzle for jetting water is provided at a stern, a steering nozzle is additionally provided for the jet nozzle, a lower side of the steering nozzle is covered with a ride plate removably mounted to a hull, a pair of supporting brackets are provided on left and right sides of the ride plate, and a reverse bucket is vertically swingably provided on the pair of supporting brackets. This jet-propelled watercraft includes an intermediate lever disposed in a gap between one of the pair of supporting brackets and the steering nozzle. The intermediate lever is swingably mounted to the one of the supporting brackets, and an operating cable is connected to the reverse bucket via the intermediate lever, whereby the reverse bucket is swung by operating the intermediate lever via the operating cable.
With this configuration, the intermediate lever is disposed in the gap between one of the supporting brackets and the steering nozzle and the operating cable is connected to the reverse bucket via the intermediate lever. As a result, since the operating cable can be disposed along a side surface of the jet propulsion unit, a space which was required previously for disposing the operating cable connected to the reverse bucket in a space over the jet propulsion unit can now be eliminated.
Since the pair of supporting brackets are provided on the left and right sides of the ride plate and the intermediate lever is disposed in the gap between one of the supporting brackets and the steering nozzle, it is possible to ensure a wider gap between the pair of supporting bracket. Hence, the width of the reverse bucket can be increased.
In addition, since the gap between the pair of supporting brackets can be widened, it is possible to ensure a space being large enough to form supporting portions of the reverse bucket which add to the rigidity of the bucket.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.


REFERENCES:
patent: 5062815 (1991-11-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5067918 (1991-11-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5154650 (1992-10-01), Nakase
patent: 5474007 (1995-12-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5551898 (1996-09-01), Matsumoto
patent: 5934954 (1999-08-01), Schott et al.
patent: 6428370 (2002-08-01), Jones
patent: 3121333 (2000-10-01), None

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