Self-purging tell-tale nozzle

Claim 1

A marine outboard motor including a powerhead, a cowling enclosing said powerhead, a cooling water jacket generally surrounding said powerhead, water pump means driven by said motor and responsive to the operating speed thereof for supplying said water jacket with cooling water under pressure, and a tell-tale overboard water discharge line, characterized by; a self-purging overboard discharge nozzle for said tell-tale line, said nozzle comprising a self-supporting unbroken conical wall of soft resilient material defining a conical passage tapering in cross section from a wide end to an annular orifice, said conical wall diminishing in thickness from the wide end of said conical passage to said orifice, said wall being sufficiently rigid to maintain the shape and size of said orifice under operating conditions of selected maximum free water flow through said orifice at full engine and water pump speed, and said wall being sufficiently resilient to enable said conical passage to be automatically expanded by the water pressure output of said water pump when said engine is near idle speed and said orifice is blocked to a diameter substantially equal to that of said tell-tale overboard discharge line so as to permit the blocking matter to pass therethrough.