GB395070A - Improvements in electric starting mechanism for internal combustion engines - Google Patents

Abstract

395,070. Starting prime movers. ECLIPSE MACHINE CO., Elmira, New York, U.S.A. Feb. 18, 1932, No. 4864. Convention date, Feb. 24, 1931. [Class 38 (iv).] The circuit of a motor SM for starting an internal-combustion engine is opened, in case of overload, by means of a bimetallic' strip 30 mounted in the control circuit of the starting switch 16. The control circuit includes a solenoid 27 and a pair of contacts 36, 37, the latter or which is carried by a spring strip 38. On closure of a switch 28, which may also close the ignition circuit, the solenoid 27 attracts its plunger 24 and closes the starting circuit. A single turn winding 17 in the latter circuit maintains a plunger 48 in its upper position during the starting operation. The lower end of the plunger is surrounded by a voltage coil 50 and a generator coil 51 which, when energized, attract the plunger downward. When the engine starts up the effect of the coil 17 is weakened by the reduction in the starting current, and that of the coil 50 is strengthened, until the plunger 48 is drawn downwards, thereby causing a roller 42 carried by a lever 40 pivoted at 41 to engage a wedge-shaped weighted member 43 on the spring 38 and separate the contacts 36, 37. The solenoid 27 is thereby de-energized and a spring 26 opens the starting switch 16 ; the voltage coil 50, however, is still energized by the current generated by the starting motor spinning in its residual field and retains the plunger 48 in its lower position until the generator G, driven by the engine, has picked up sufficiently to energize the winding 51. The starting motor circuit includes a conductor 19 in parallel with which is a heating coil 57 surrounding the bimetallic strip 30. II the engine fails to start within a predetermined time, the bending of the strip opens the circuit of the solenoid 27 at contacts 31, 32, and releases the plunger 24 to open the starting switch 16. A latch 60 controlled by a solenoid 64 prevents the return of the bimetallic strip until the latch is released by the opening of the switch 28.