Mounting recoil starter

A pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine comprising:

• a blower housing having a generally circular, rigid upper rim,
• a crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within said blower housing,
• a removeable vented starter housing of molded plastic having a generally circular flexible lower rim, said starter housing lower rim being concentric with and closely fitting around the blower housing rim, said blower housing rim serving to locate and reinforce the starter housing lower rim, and
• means on said starter housing and blower housing rims for removeably interlocking said starter and blower housings by relative interlocking movement between said housings.

A pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine of the type having an air circulating crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within a blower housing and a pull rope actuatable rotatable ratchet wheel mounted within a starter housing generally axially aligned with and adjacent the flywheel, said starter mechanism comprising:

• a pulley for receiving a pull rope coupled to and rotatable with the ratchet wheel, a spiral spring having an outer end fastened to the ratchet wheel and an inner end fastened to a bushing which in turn is fastened to a post on the starter housing, the spring being wound about the bushing in a sense opposite the direction in which a pull rope is to be wound about the pulley so that withdrawl of the pull rope from the pulley rotates the pulley and ratchet wheel in a direction to wind the spring more tightly about the bushing, the bushing providing the means for holding the ratchet wheel and pulley axially in position on the post of the starter housing, and an improved pawl arrangement for selectively drivingly interconnecting the ratchet wheel and flywheel for pull rope starting the engine including a plurality of pivot means distributed about the flywheel radially beyond the ratchet wheel, and a plurality of pawls mounted respectively on the pivot means for pivotal movement about an axis generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the flywheel, each pawl having an integral biased leaf spring means for urging the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel and an inertial mass center displaced from its pivot axis urging the pawl under centrifugal force against the spring bias out of ratchet engagement upon adequate flywheel rotation.

In a pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine of the type having an air circulating crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within a blower housing and a pull rope actuatable rotatable ratchet wheel mounted within a starter housing generally axially aligned with and adjacent the flywheel, an improved pawl arrangement for selectively drivingly interconnecting the ratchet wheel and flywheel for pull rope starting the engine comprising:

• a plurality of pivot means distributed about the flywheel radially beyond the ratchet wheel;
• and
• a plurality of pawls mounted respectively on the pivot means for pivotal movement about axes generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the flywheel, each pawl having an integral biased leaf spring means for urging the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel and an inertial mass center displaced from its pivot axis urging the pawl under centrifugal force against the spring bias out of ratchet engagement upon adequate flywheel rotation;
• said pawls each being formed from sheet spring material with a bent over apertured tab at one end forming part of a pivotal coupling between the pawl and flywheel.

In a pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine of the type having an air circulating crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within a blower housing and a pull rope actuatable rotatable ratchet wheel mounted within a starter housing generally axially aligned with and adjacent the flywheel, an improved pawl arrangement for selectively drivingly interconnecting the ratchet wheel and flywheel for pull rope starting the engine comprising:

• a plurality of pivot means distributed about the flywheel radially beyond the ratchet wheel;
• and
• a plurality of pawls mounted respectively on the pivot means for pivotal movement about axes generally parallel to the axis of rotation of the flywheel, each pawl having an integral biased leaf spring means for urging the pawl into engagement with the ratchet wheel and an inertial mass center displaced from its pivot axis urging the pawl under centrifugal force against the spring bias out of ratchet engagement upon adequate flywheel rotation;
• said pawls each including a bifurcated arm extending from a pivotal coupling to the flywheel, the integral bias leaf spring means comprising one portion of the bifurcated arm that is integrally connected to the other portion of the bifurcated arm, said two arm portions being joined at an end of the bifurcated arm remote from the pivotal coupling.

A pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine comprising:

• a blower housing having a generally circular, rigid upper rim,
• a crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within said blower housing,
• a removeable vented starter housing of molded plastic having a generally circular flexible lower rim, said starter housing lower rim being concentric with and closely fitting around the blower housing rim, said blower housing rim serving to locate and reinforce the starter housing lower rim;
• means on said starter housing and blower housing rims for removeably interlocking said starter and blower housings;
• and
• said means for interlocking comprising a plurality of locking tabs on one of said blower housing rim and starter housing rim and a like plurality of tab receiving notches on the other of said blower housing and starter housing rims, said tabs and notches mating in a twist-lock manner to secure the starter housing in position on the blower housing.

A pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine comprising:

• a blower housing having a generally circular, rigid upper rim,
• a crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within said blower housing,
• a removeable vented starter housing of molded plastic having a generally circular flexible lower rim, said starter housing lower rim being concentric with and closely fitting around the blower housing rim, said blower housing rim serving to locate and reinforce the starter housing lower rim;
• means on said starter housing and blower housing rims for removeably interlocking said starter and blower housings;
• and
• a pulley for receiving a pull rope coupled to and rotatable with the ratchet wheel, a spiral spring having an outer end fastened to the ratchet wheel and an inner end fastened to a bushing locked to a center post portion of the starter housing with the spring wound about the bushing in a sense opposite the direction in which the pull rope is to be wound about the pulley so that withdrawl of the pull rope from the pulley rotates the pulley and ratchet wheel relative to the bushing and post portion in a direction to wind the spring more tightly about the bushing and to more tighly lock the bushing to the center post portion.

A pull rope recoil starter mechanism for a small internal combustion engine comprising:

• a blower housing having a generally circular, rigid upper rim,
• a crankshaft driven flywheel enclosed within said blower housing,
• a removeable vented starter housing of molded plastic having a generally circular flexible lower rim, said starter housing lower rim being concentric with and closely fitting around the blower housing rim, said blower housing rim serving to locate and reinforce the starter housing lower rim;
• means on said starter housing and blower housing rims for removeably interlocking said starter and blower housings;
• a pulley having a pull rope wound thereon, a ratchet wheel connected to said pulley and forming with said pulley an enclosed spring chamber, a recoil spring disposed in said chamber;
• and
• a bushing fixedly connected to a center post on said starter housing, said pulley and ratchet wheel being rotatably supported on said bushing, an upper portion of said pulley and a center portion of said starter housing forming a rotating seal to prevent dust from entering the spring chamber.