Home |
Search |
Today's Posts |
#11
|
|||
|
|||
OK, let's try another. What part in Mercruiser outdrives required them to pay royalties to Volvo Penta? Why didn't early Mercury outboards have neutral? (Getting my ideas from a great book called "The Iron Fist".) b. |
#12
|
|||
|
|||
wrote in message oups.com... OK, let's try another. What part in Mercruiser outdrives required them to pay royalties to Volvo Penta? (Getting my ideas from a great book called "The Iron Fist".) b. It's been a long time since I read that book, but my recollection is from earlier days with OMC. I believe the dual u-joint drive shaft was the item that required the royalties. OMC stern-drives had to use the "ball-gear" setup to get around that patent. Back in the '30s, OMC had a stern drive setup used to power barges. Bill Grannis service manager |
#13
|
|||
|
|||
wrote in message oups.com... : What was unique about some McCullough outboard sparkplugs back in their day? Ring gap plugs. Yep, surface gap plugs, a first for outboards. Bill Grannis service manager |
#14
|
|||
|
|||
Billgran wrote:
: wrote in message : oups.com... : : OK, let's try another. : : What part in Mercruiser outdrives required them to pay royalties to : Volvo Penta? : : (Getting my ideas from a great book called "The Iron Fist".) : : b. : It's been a long time since I read that book, but my recollection is from : earlier days with OMC. I believe the dual u-joint drive shaft was the item : that required the royalties. OMC stern-drives had to use the "ball-gear" : setup to get around that patent. Back in the '30s, OMC had a stern drive : setup used to power barges. That's it!. There was a guy (Steve Wynn?) who invented the sterndrive whilst working for Karl and Karl didn't think it was a good idea. He left for Volvo Penta and that really irked Kiekiefer. OMC used the ball gear to get around it until the patent expired on it. Then they went to the Cobra drive. Additionally, Kiekiefer didn't think there was a "need" for a neutral in an outboard. Hence, those throttles/shifts with the starter button on the end of the handle. Karl was quite a tyrant. Ironically, he had an *electrical* engineering degree and designed outboard motors. b. |
#15
|
|||
|
|||
wrote in message roups.com... There was a guy (Steve Wynn?) who invented the sterndrive whilst working for Karl and Karl didn't think it was a good idea. He left for Volvo Penta and that really irked Kiekiefer. OMC used the ball gear to get around it until the patent expired on it. Then they went to the Cobra drive. b. Actually Jim Winn was the "front guy" to Volvo for the idea of the stern drive, as it was really thought up by Charlie Strang who was Merc's chief engineer at the time. Jim and Charlie had to talk to Volvo and swear them to secrecy as long as Carl was alive. In the late '60s, Strang became OMC's chief engineer. He was instrumental in the OMC Cobra stern drive that came out when Merc and Volvo's patents expired. Strang was the father of the stern drive and had a hand in the design of the Volvo, MercCruiser, and OMC Cobra stern drives. Bill Grannis service manager |
#16
|
|||
|
|||
Billgran wrote:
: Actually Jim Winn was the "front guy" to Volvo for the idea of the stern : drive, as it was really thought up by Charlie Strang who was Merc's chief : engineer at the time. Jim and Charlie had to talk to Volvo and swear them to : secrecy as long as Carl was alive. In the late '60s, Strang became OMC's : chief engineer. He was instrumental in the OMC Cobra stern drive that came : out when Merc and Volvo's patents expired. Strang was the father of the : stern drive and had a hand in the design of the Volvo, MercCruiser, and OMC : Cobra stern drives. : Bill Grannis : service manager Ahh... It's been a long time since I've read the book and I've forgotten a lot of the detail. Thanks for the clarification. barry |
#17
|
|||
|
|||
If it is of any interest, I have a Speedliner 18 ft boat that several of my
local friends work with Karl on during the development of the I/O. Perhaps one of the reasons that Karl had limited interest in the I/O initially was because he and these guys were hard at developing their own version and when Steve Winn upstaged them, it may have irritated him! As I turns out I was friends with the boat designer/builder, the machinists here in Kansas City, MO working with Karl and Karl, The boat designer/builder passed away just a few years ago. Fortunately I got to work with him on several projects including the final boat built by Speedliner, a "B" Racing Runabout for me. We built it in 6 days! Of course it took another couple of weeks to get the finish and hardware on. I have a Yamato engine on it and have only run it once in my 3 acre farm pond. I treasure this boat because it represents the end of an era and good times with the folks at Speedliner. We all used to race together in the Midwest. Don Dando I'm guessing that the answer to the Volvo question is the Duo-Prop design that Volvo came out with before Merk did. As far as "no neutral on an outboard", I think OMC was tearing up gear cases on their larger hp motors and Karl stated that Merk wasn't going to have that problem. He used proven non shifting lower units and reversed the direction of the power head, hence the "DR" Direct Reverse engine. I collect and restore outboards and have about 25 DR's. Don Dando wrote in message roups.com... Billgran wrote: : wrote in message : oups.com... : : OK, let's try another. : : What part in Mercruiser outdrives required them to pay royalties to : Volvo Penta? : : (Getting my ideas from a great book called "The Iron Fist".) : : b. : It's been a long time since I read that book, but my recollection is from : earlier days with OMC. I believe the dual u-joint drive shaft was the item : that required the royalties. OMC stern-drives had to use the "ball-gear" : setup to get around that patent. Back in the '30s, OMC had a stern drive : setup used to power barges. That's it!. There was a guy (Steve Wynn?) who invented the sterndrive whilst working for Karl and Karl didn't think it was a good idea. He left for Volvo Penta and that really irked Kiekiefer. OMC used the ball gear to get around it until the patent expired on it. Then they went to the Cobra drive. Additionally, Kiekiefer didn't think there was a "need" for a neutral in an outboard. Hence, those throttles/shifts with the starter button on the end of the handle. Karl was quite a tyrant. Ironically, he had an *electrical* engineering degree and designed outboard motors. b. |
Reply |
|
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Forum | |||
Mercury Mark 58,piston question | General | |||
Friday Ethics Question | General | |||
Winterizing question plus. | General | |||
Exhaust question on inboard 1958 Chris Craft | General | |||
Transom Height - Dumb Question Alert | General |