US1450010A - Impulse starter for ignition generators - Google Patents

Description

Mar. 27, 1923. 1,450,10.

' 0.11. TOWER.

IMPULSE STARTER FOR IGNITION GENERATORS.

' FILED AUG.4,1919.

ATM

' f jgigmunm Patented Mar. 27, 1923.

UNITED STATES ,45,0l PAENT OFFICE.

CHARLES H. TOWER, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE TEAGLE COMPANY,

CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

IMPULSE STARTER FOR IGNITION GENERATORS.

Application filed August 4, 1919. Serial No. 315,169.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. TOWER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Impulse Starters for Ignition Generators,"'of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. This invention relates to that class of driving mechanisms for the ignition generators of internal combustion engines which are designed to give the rotor of the generator a rapid movement intermittently when the driver is turned slowly on the starting of the engine, such driving mechanisms being commonly known as impulse starters.

One object of the invention is the attainment in a mechanism of the character in question of a high degree of uniformity and reliability of operation.

Another object of the invention is the production of an impulse starter mechanism having working parts that are simple and rugged, of a minimum number and capable of production at low cost.

A further object of the invention is the provision of an impulse starter mechanism that cannot go into operation when the generator is running above a predetermined speed.

Other objects of the invention more or less incidental or ancillary to the foregoing will appear in the following description of the preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is an end elevation of a portion of an ignition current generator showing my improved impulse starter mechanism with the locking parts in inoperative positions.

Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the locking parts of the impulse starter mechanism in operative positions.

Fig. 3' is a section on the line 33, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an elevationof a portion of the impulse starter mechanism detached from the generator. Y

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary section on the line 55, Fig. 1.

Referring in detail to the construction illustrated,f1 designates one of the end plates of an ignition generator of the permanent magnet or magneto type, 2 is the rotor shaft of the generator and 3 is one of the shaft bearings by which the shaft is supported at one end in the end plate 1. These are the usual generator parts. The impulse starter mechanism comprises a driven member 4 which is keyed on the tapered end of the shaft 2. This driven member has its periphery formed with one or more, and pref- I erably two, diametrically opposite notches to provide ratchet shoulders 4 4. On the hub of the driven member or ratchet 4 is rotatably mounted a driving member 5, the shaft 2 and the driving and driven members being secured in operative relation by a suitable nut 6 and washer 7 on the end of the shaft. On its outer face the driving member 5 is provided with clutch teeth of lugs 5 adapt ed to be engaged in well known manner by another clutch driving member.

In the annular chamber formed between the ratchet or driven member 4 and the drivingmember 5 are arranged a coiled driving spring 8 and similar buffer spring 9, said springs being interposed between pins or posts 10 and 11 carried by the driven and driving members, respectively. When the driving member is turned in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, driving force is transmitted through post 11, spring 8 and post 10 to the driven member 4. In Figs. 1 and 2 the driving and buffer springs are shown in their expanded or normal condition.

The driving member 5 is formed with opposite flanges 5 5 which bear against the outer face of the peripheral part of the driven member 4 and extend radially beyond said peripheral part. The front edge of each flange is shaped to form a cam 5 for a purpose which will presently be 6X- plained. In the normal relation of the parts shown in Fig. 1 the cams 5 lie angularly to the rear of the ratchet shoulders 4. The rear edge 5 of each flange normally lies slightly in advance of the adjacent ratchet notch of the driven member.

Above the rotor shaft of the generator is a bracket casting 12 rigidly secured to the generator end plate 1 by a screw 13 and a screw bolt 14. The casting 12 is provided with a pivot stud l2 directly above the generator shaft 2 and. on this pivot stud is mounted a locking pawl 15 which is preferably forrned from square bar stock and secured on the stud by cotter pin 16. Thelonger end of this pawl is adapted to ride uponthe peripheries of the driven member 4 and the driving member 5 and to engage EEO - dog faces 17 a and 17 b moves from ing pressure exerted by and dash lines in this will presently several figures of latter is raised of a coiled spring 18 which has its opposite end attached to a pivot stud 19 mounted in a lug 12 of the casting 12. The outer end of the dog 17 is formed to provide a face 17 and a second face 17", and at the junction of these faces is formed a knife edge 17 These and the knife edge 17 are adapted to co-operate with the adjacent end surface 15, upper surface 15 and corner 15 of the pawl 15. When the'pawl 15 engages the ratchet l, as indicated in Fig. 2,

the face 17 a of the dog is pressed against the,

corner of the pawl so as to hold the pawl yieldingly in engagement with the ratchet. If the pawl be raised dog 17 is forced to the right by the corner of the pawl until said corner passes the corner or knife edge 17 of the dog whereupon the said knife edge or the face 17 b of the dog engages the upper surface 15 of the pawl and holds the latter yieldingly in inoperative position out of engagement with the ratchet 4, as indicated in -Fig. 1. As the pawl 15 its operative position, shown in Fig. 2, to its inoperative position, shown in Fig. 1, its knife edge corner 15 comes into engagement with the knife edge 17 of the catch dog 17, as indicated in Fig. 4. The parts are so formed and related that when this occurs the yieldthe dog on the pawl is on a line passing to one side'of the axis of the pawl pivot, as indicated-by the dot Fig. 4. The purpose of be explained. stud 19 is mounted a manual which is normally held by the position shown in the the drawing.- The' upper end of this lever 20 is adapted to be actuated by a pull wire 22 or the like while the lower cam end of the lever-is arranged to engage the longer end of the pawl 15 when the to inoperative position. By pulling on the lever 20 the long end of the pawl can be forced downward until its knife edge 15 passes the knife edge 17 c of the dog 17 whereupon the latter presses the pawl yieldingly against the ratchetA.

The casting 12 is drilled through from top to bottom to form an oil passage which is closed at its outer end by a spring pressed ball 23 and is provided at its lower end with a tube 24 which projects into an oil reservoir 25 formed in 'On the'pivot cam lever 20 coiled spring 21 in the latter with lubricant.

In the operation-of the mechanism, as

from the ratchet, the

the end plate 1 of the gen-' suming that the pawl 15 is in engagement with ratchet 4, as shown in Fig.2, movement of the driving member 5 in the direction. of the arrow will a compression of the driving spring 8 1nasmuch as the driven member isheld against turning by the pawl 15. When the driving member is turned in relation to the driven member until the cam 5 engages the end of the pawl 15, the continued movement of the driving member causes said cam to force the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet shoulder 4 thus releasing the driven memher and permitting it to by the driving spring 8 so as to give the rotor of the I generator a quick forward movement adapted to generate a strong high tens1on current.

The endof the pawl 15, after disengagement from the ratchet shoulder, ridesupon the flange 5 until the diametrically opposite ratchet notch comes under the pawl whereupon the latter engages the second ratchet shoulder and the operation is repeated. This continues to occur until the engine starts under its own power and acquiressome speed. As soon as the speed of rotation reaches a certain predetermined-point the force f the cams 5 on the locking pawl 1 is sufiicient to throw it upward against the tension of the spring 18 into its inoperative position, shown in Fig. 1, and thereafter the rotor of the generator is driven. in normal fashion in unison with the driving member 5. When the :engine has been stopped and it is agaim desired to start it the locking pawl 15 is thrown down into operative position by simply pulling on the lever 20. In a this connection, it will be observed that the manual lever 20 has no engagement whatever with the pawl 15 when the latter is lowered and in operation and consequently does not interfere with the free operative movements of said pawl.

As it would subject the mechanism to a ,severe shock if the locking pawl 15 were permitted to engage the ratchet when the generatorwere running at high speed. I have designed means to prevent this occurring. That is to say}. I so proportion the radius of the flanges 5*, 5 and the radius of the ratchet Land so arrange the rear edges of notches of the ratchet 4. as to prevent engagement of the pawl 15 with the ratchet shoulders when the speed of rotation is above a certain value. It will be observed that the peripheries of the flanges'5 5 project radially considerably beyond the periphery of. the ratchet 4, and the rear edges 5, 5 of the flanges 5 5". while sufficiently in advance of the ratchet notches to permit the pawl 15- to ride into said notches when the speed of rotation is low, are yet sulficiently near said notches so that the inertia be snapped forward 7 the flanges 5?, 5 in relation to the of the pawl 15, as it rides on the peripheries of flanges 5", 5", will prevent its riding into the notches when-the speed of rotation is increased beyond a certain moderate value below which sudden engagement of the-pawl and ratchet would not be harmful.

By reason of-the relative form and arrangement of the pawl 15 and dog 17 it is impossible for these parts to interlock with the pawl in a neutral or, intermediate 'posl tion' as has tended to occur in prior constructions, since when the knife edges 15 and 17 come into engagement the pressure of the dog on the pawl acts automatically to move the pawl on its pivot and thus prevents the parts stopping on dead center. .I-thus secure a uniform and reliable operation. Since the mechanism cannot accidentally go into operation when the parts are turningat high speed the avoidance of undue shocks and strains is insured. Obviously the working parts are, simple, strong and easily de. What I claim is:

1. In an impulse starter mechanism for rotary ignition generators, the combination of a rotatable driven member having a ratchet shoulder, a stop pawl adapted to engage saidshoulder and hold the driven member from turning, .a rotatable driving member adjacent to and coaxial with the I driven member, a driving spring between the driving and driven members, the driving member having means for; disengaging the pawl from the stop shoulder when the spring is compressed, a movably: mounted springpressedcatch adapted 'to engage and yield ingly hold the pawl in operative engagement with the driven member and to engage and yiieldingly hold the pawl out of engagement with the driven member when said pawl has been moved to inoperative position, and

. manual means for positively forcing the pawl from its inoperative to its operative position, said manual means having no en gagement with the spring-pressed catch or pawl when the latter is in operative positions.

2. In an impulse starter mechanism for ignition generators, the combination with the generator shaft of means for driving said shaft comprising a ratchet fast thereon, a cam mounted to turn in relation to said generator shaft, a spring interposed between the cam and ratchet to transmit power to drive the generator shaft, a pawl pivotally moved from inoperative the connection with the last mounted to engage and stop the ratchet and I be disengaged therefrom by the cam, and a pivoted spring-pressed catch adapted byen; gaging one surface of the pawl to hold the latter yieldingly out .of contact with the ratchet and also byengaging. another surface of the pawl to hold the latter yieldingly in contact with the ratchet.

3. In an'impulse starter mechanism for ignition generators, the combination with the generator shaft of means for driving said shaftcomprising a ratchet fast thereon, I

a cam mounted to turn in relation to said generator shaft, a spring interposed between I i the cam and ratchet to transmit power to drive the generator shaft, a pawl'pivotedanother surface of the pawl and hold the.

latter yieldingly in contact with the ratchet. 4. In an impulse starter mechanism for ignition generators, the combination with the generator shaft of means for driving said shaftcomprising a ratchet fast thereon, a cam mounted to'turn in relation to said generator shaft, a spring interposed between the cam and ratchet to transmit power to drive the generator shaft, a pawl pivotally mounted' to engage and stop theratchet and be disengaged therefrom by the cam, means comprising a pivoted catch andaspring adapted to yieldingly hold the pawl in operative engagement with the driven. memher and to hold the pawl out of engagement with the driven member when said pawl has been moved to inoperative position, and manual means for causing the pawlto be 7 to operative position, said manual means'ha'ving no opera- I named spring other than through the pawl.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto aflix my signature.

v CHARLES H. rowan.

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