Starter

A starter comprising a plunger and a pinion,

• said plunger including:
• a movable core which moves by energization to an excitation coil;
• a hook in which a shaft portion is assembled in a cylinder hole provided in said movable core, a leading end section of said shaft portion is protruded from said movable core to be engaged with an end section of a shift lever, and a rear end section of said shaft portion is formed with a flange section;
• a bearing which is fixed to an opening section of said cylinder hole and through which said shaft portion passes through its inner diameter;
• and
• a drive spring which is inserted between said flange section and said bearing in said cylinder hole, and
• said pinion moving via said shift lever which is driven in response to the movement of said movable core,
• wherein the outer circumferential surface of said flange section of said hook is formed with a first annular groove section along the circumferential direction thereof, and an elastic body is provided between said first annular groove section and the inner circumferential surface of said cylinder hole over the entire circumference, whereby said elastic body generates slide resistance between said movable core and said hook when said movable core and said hook are relatively moved while compressing said drive spring;
• and
• wherein said movable core is formed with a first communication path by which a first internal space (A) of said movable core surrounded by said cylinder hole, said elastic body, and said flange section communicates with an external space of said movable core with each other;
• the leading end side of said shaft portion is formed with a first flow path groove section along the axial direction, whereby a second communication path, by which a second internal space (B) of said movable core surrounded by said cylinder hole, said bearing, said hook, and said elastic body communicates with the external space of said movable core with each other, is formed between said bearing and said shaft portion;
• and
• said shaft portion is formed with a first flow path area enlarged section on the axial rear end side of said first flow path groove section so that a flow path area of said second communication path smaller than a flow path area of said first communication path when said movable core is located at a stationary position, and the flow path area of said second communication path is larger than the flow path area of said first communication path when said movable core is located at a position moving while compressing said drive spring.