GB357746A - Improvements in engine starting mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

357,746. Turning-gear. E C L I P S E AVIATION CORPORATION, 545, North Arlington Avenue, East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.A. Sept, 3, 1930, No. 26333. Convention date, Sept. 6, 1929. [Classes 7 (ii) and 7 (v).] An engine starter comprises a jaw clutch 40 movable into engagement with an engine member 44, a flywheel 4 which is set in rotation by an electric motor or other means, and friction clutches 52, 33 by which the flywheel is coupled through a driving member to the jaw clutch 40 to enable the energy of the flywheel to be transmitted gradually to the engine. The torque-transmitting capacity of the clutch 52 is preferably greater than that of the clutch 33, so that the latter slips until the resistance to starting has been overcome. As shown in the Figure, the flywheel 4 is set in rotation by means of an electric motor 8, the shaft 11 of which carries a clutch member 9 movable automatically on helical splines 12 into and out of engagement with a member 10 carried by the hub 16 of the flywheel, the member 9 being normally disengaged by a spring 14. The flywheel is coupled to the driving pinion 22 by means of a cone clutch 52, the hub 53 of which is actuated by a yoke 55 on a rock-shaft 56a rocked by a lever 57. The hub 53 is helically splined on the shaft 20 of the pinion 22, so that the clutch 52 is rotated as it is moved into engagement with the flywheel. The pinion 22 meshes with planetary pinions 23 rotatable on the end 24 of a driving barrel 25 and meshing with a fixed internal gear 29. The barrel 25 is connected by the adjustable multiple-plate friction clutch 33 to a nut 32 in engagement with a threaded shaft 36, on which the jaw clutch 40 is longitudinally splined, an axial rod 43, nut 43a, and spring 42 maintaining the clutch 40 and shaft 36 in operative relation. When driven from the flywheel 4 through the clutch 52 and planetary &c. gearing, the clutch 40 is moved automatically into engagement with the engine member 44 by the action of the nut 32 and threaded shaft 36, longitudinal slots 48 in the periphery of the jaw clutch being engaged by lugs on a split ring 50 frictionally supported on the lip of a casing member 51. A flexible washer 51b carried by the member 51 engages the part 39 of the jaw clutch to exclude oil from the starter housing. In a modification, the driven member 44 of the jaw clutch is mounted on the shaft of a rotary supercharging blower driven from the engine shaft through two-step reduction gearing from an internally toothed gear on the engine shaft.