GB776450A - Improvements in or relating to engine starting apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

776,450. Engine turning gear. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO., Ltd. Nov. 4, 1955 [Aug. 4, 1954], No. 22672/54. Class 7 (5). [Also in Group XXIV] In a portable engine starting apparatus comprising an electric motor 1, Fig. 1, which drives a member 6 adapted to be coupled to an engine to be started through a flexible shaft 3 and reduction gearing, a drive unit 4 is provided with handles 5 to be held by an operator for resisting torque reaction during starting, and includes means for uncoupling the member 6 from the shaft 3. The motor 1 may be carried by a trolley or, alternatively, mounted on a base so that it can be stood on the ground near the engine. The member 6 may engage a starting handle socket or the handle itself, and adaptors may be provided for various types of engines. In the case of a lanyard starter a shroud fitting over the starter wheel rotates the wheel through a pawl or other slip drive. As shown in Fig. 2 the reduction gear is housed in the unit 4 and comprises an input shaft 8 driving an output shaft 9 through a friction gear comprising a wheel 10, three wheels 11 arranged about the shaft 8 and fixed to shafts 12 converging to the left, wheels 14 and a wheel 15 fixed to the shaft 9. This shaft has a coupling flange 16 and is normally forced to the right by a spring 18. In use, the operator supports the unit 4 by the handles 5 and moves it towards the engine, the spring 18 being compressed and the wheel 15 clutched to the wheels 14, and the motor is switched on. The switch may be on one of the handles 5 or on the motor and actuated by cable from a lever on the handle or on the motor or connected thereto by cable and operable by the operator's foot. Instead of being housed in the unit 4 the reduction gear may be coupled directly to the motor and the shafts 12 may be parallel to the shaft 8, the wheels 11 and 14 being conical.