Patent ID: 7291048

Claim:
A marine propulsion device, comprising: a gear housing; a propeller shaft supported within said gear housing for rotation about an axis of rotation; a clutch member which is axially movable relative to said propeller shaft in a direction parallel to said axis of rotation, said clutch member being keyed to said propeller shaft for synchronous rotation with said propeller shaft about said axis of rotation; an actuator supported within said gear housing for motion parallel to said axis of rotation; and a coupler connected between said clutch member and said actuator, said coupler comprising a generally spherical member and a chuck device which is shaped to receive and retain said generally spherical member within its structure, said generally spherical member and said chuck device being rotatable relative to each other, said generally spherical member and said chuck device being axially movable in synchrony with each other in a direction parallel to said axis of rotation, said chuck device comprising a plurality of fingers which are movable away from each other to allow said generally spherical member to pass into said chuck device and are movable toward each other to retain said generally spherical member within said chuck device.