Patent ID: 9475562
Filing Date: 2016-10-25
CPC Classification: B63H

Claim Text:
1. An outboard motor comprising: an engine; a drive shaft which comprises an upper drive shaft to which rotational power from the engine is transmitted; a lower drive shaft which is arranged coaxially with the upper drive shaft and to which rotational power from the upper drive shaft is transmitted; and vertically extends from the engine to transmit the rotational power from the engine; and a shift unit which switches a shift position between the upper drive shaft and the lower drive shaft, wherein the shift unit has: an upper gear which is provided in a lower end of the upper drive shaft and rotates in synchronization with the upper drive shaft; a lower gear which is provided in a upper end of the lower drive shaft and is rotatable with respect to the lower drive shaft; a middle gear which is formed so as to rotates in synchronization with a middle shaft extending to the rear side in a direction vertical to the drive shaft and meshes with the upper gear and the lower gear at all times; a clutch body which connects/disconnects the rotational power from the upper drive shaft to the lower drive shaft and performs switching of a rotational direction, when being formed so as to rotate in synchronization with the lower drive shaft between the upper gear and the lower gear, and engaging with either the upper gear or the lower gear or engaging with neither the upper gear nor the lower gear by shifting on the lower driving shaft; and an actuator that reciprocates the shift fork member in parallel with the drive shaft, the actuator is a linear motion type in which a drive force output member for outputting the driving force makes a rectilinear motion and is arranged in the vicinity of the front sides of the drive shaft and the clutch body such that a direction of the rectilinear motion is in parallel with an axial line of the drive shaft, and the shift fork member is connected to the drive force output member.