Ships – Steering mechanism – Remote control steering excluding manual operation
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-30
2001-03-20
Morano, S. Joseph (Department: 3617)
Ships
Steering mechanism
Remote control steering excluding manual operation
C114S055500, C114S169000, C074S543000, C074S551100
Reexamination Certificate
active
06202583
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a steering structure of a personal watercraft running on water.
A personal watercraft running on water is used mainly for leisure or for sports. A driver sits on a seat provided on a rear portion of a deck of the watercraft, and operates the watercraft by gripping a handle disposed in front of the seat.
The personal watercraft is propelled by a propelling device mounted on a rear portion of a body thereof, and is driven by an engine mounted in an engine room within the body, and propelling direction is changed by turning the handle.
FIG. 7
shows a handle supporting apparatus in a conventional personal watercraft disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 61-229690. In this apparatus, a steering column
52
is mounted to a mount wall
51
on a deck, a steering shaft
53
is rotatably supported in the steering column
52
, and a tilting member
54
for adjusting its forward and backward angle is supported by the steering shaft
53
. The angle of the tilting member
54
in forward and backward direction can be adjusted by a positioning means
55
provided between the tilting member
54
and the steering shaft
53
.
Referring to other references, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. Hei 2-105099 discloses a handle bar of a folding type, and Japanese Utility Model Publication No. Hei 7-21438 discloses a handle post cover whose junctures can be precisely alienable.
However, the handle supporting apparatus described above is formed by combining a large number of parts required to be manufactured with a high degree of precision, which increases product cost.
A large number of parts requires long time for assembling work of the steering structure, and the number of parts also increases the weight of the steering structure.
The other references described above also include similar problems in connection with the number of parts requiring high degree of precision and number of steps for assembling the steering structure.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention provides a steering structure of a personal watercraft comprising: a mount member provided on a mount base formed on an upper portion of a deck of the watercraft; a hold member provided inside of the deck separated downward from the mount member by a predetermined distance; a handle support shaft supported by the hold member and the mount member; and a support collar provided at support portion of the handle support shaft, for rotatably supporting the handle support shaft, and for absorbing a deviation of support positions of the handle support shaft.
Because the handle support shaft is supported by the mount member provided on the upper portion of the deck and by the hold member separated downward from the mount member by a predetermined distance, the number of parts required for the steering structure can be reduced, and the structure can be assembled quickly. The support collar which absorbs deviation of support positions of the handle support shaft, i.e., off center of the mount member and the hold member, further reduce the number of parts requiring high degree of precision, thus reducing product cost. Further, the weight of the product can also be reduced by a small number of parts.
By forming a contact surface of the support collar which contacts with the support position of the mount member into a spherical surface, deviation of support positions of the handle support shaft can be absorbed by inclination of the support collar along the spherical surface.
By the hold member connecting side walls at the position separated downward from the upper portion of the deck by a predetermined distance, the force of the steering operation can be transmitted to the side wall of the deck through the hold member.
By providing an operation lever for changing a propelling direction on the handle support shaft between the mount member and the hold member, the operating force of the operation lever can be supported at both upper and lower portion of the handle support shaft.
The present invention also provides a steering structure of a personal watercraft comprising: a mount member provided on a mount base formed on an upper portion of a deck of the watercraft; a handle support shaft supported by the mount member, the shaft having a threaded portion and a non-circular portion formed beneath the threaded portion; a nut screwed on the threaded portion of the handle support shaft for stopping axial movement of the shaft, the nut having gripping projections formed on a peripheral surface in axial direction, and the nut having threaded holes on a lower end surface; and a rotation stop element secured to the lower end surface of the nut, the element having a non-circular through hole at the center to be fitted over the non-circular portion of the handle support shaft, and having a plurality of rotation stop holes arranged on the same pitch circle as the threaded holes formed on the lower end surface of the nut.
With this structure, rotation of the nut for securing the handle support shaft on the mount member is stopped with the rotation stop element having a plurality of rotation stop holes. Consequently, screwing amount of the nut can be adjusted minutely with small rotation angle, therefore, assembling and adjusting work of the handle support shaft to the mount members can be performed more easily and precisely.
These object as well as other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 382200 (1888-05-01), Ware
patent: 1351974 (1920-09-01), Stubblefield
patent: 2303049 (1942-11-01), Ingalls
patent: 2468659 (1949-04-01), Garnier
patent: 2827340 (1958-03-01), Johnson
patent: 3394673 (1968-07-01), Hamori
patent: 3434452 (1969-03-01), Crow
patent: 3570444 (1971-03-01), Farr
patent: 3627389 (1971-12-01), Foote, Jr.
patent: 4141309 (1979-02-01), Halboth
patent: 4227826 (1980-10-01), Conrad
patent: 4767901 (1988-08-01), Goyarts
patent: 4842424 (1989-06-01), Narkon et al.
patent: 4986208 (1991-01-01), Kobayashi
patent: 5054798 (1991-10-01), Zulawski
patent: 5355826 (1994-10-01), Hattori et al.
patent: 5377557 (1995-01-01), Nastrucci
patent: 5674034 (1997-10-01), Bennett
patent: 6062154 (2000-05-01), Ito
patent: 61-181797 (1986-08-01), None
patent: 61-229690 (1986-10-01), None
patent: 2-105099 (1990-08-01), None
patent: 3000973 (1994-06-01), None
patent: 7-21438 (1995-05-01), None
Kawasaki Jukogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Marshall O'Toole Gerstein Murray & Borun
Morano S. Joseph
Vasudeva Ajay
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