Patent ID: 7530869

Claim:
A marine propulsion machine comprising: an engine, a first drive shaft interlocked with the engine, a second drive shaft, the first and second drive shafts being each set in a vertical position, an output gear mechanism driven by the second drive shaft, a propeller shaft rotatively driven by the output gear mechanism, and an intermediate gear mechanism including a drive gear mounted on said first drive shaft and a driven gear mounted on the second drive shaft, said second drive shaft being interlocked with said first drive shaft by means of said intermediate gear mechanism; wherein bearings are provided for supporting the second drive shaft, the bearings including only an upper bearing and a lower bearing disposed on the upper side and the lower side, respectively, of the driven gear; wherein the upper bearing directly supports an upper end part of the second drive shaft extending upward from the driven gear and the vertical position of the upper bearing is at a vertical position coinciding with that of the drive gear; and wherein the lower bearing is placed at a position on a lower end part of the second drive shaft, the lower end part extending between the driven gear and an input gear included in the output gear mechanism.