ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 15 -- United States Patent no. 12,600,450, issued on April 14, was assigned to Brunswick Corp. (Mettawa, Ill.).
"Stern drives having steerable gearcase" was invented by Ryan A. Fergus (Neenah, Wis.), Timothy G. Langlitz (Oshkosh, Wis.) and John A. Groeschel (Theresa, Wis.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A stern drive for a marine vessel, the stern drive having a powerhead, a drive assembly configured to support a propulsor for generating a thrust force in water, the propulsor being powered by the powerhead. The drive assembly comprises a driveshaft housing and a gearcase suspended from the driveshaft housing, the gearcase being steerable relative to the driveshaft housin...