Starting Industrial Co., Ltd.

Isao Tohyama

Toshinori Morishige

Hideki Hashiba

Shuhei Tsunoda

Seiichi Nieda

Hirotoshi Fujita

A starter for a small-sized engine, capable of reliably starting the engine by a rope reel and stably supporting a drive cam. The starter has, received in a starter case, a cylindrical drive cam having a starter clutch mechanism, the rope reel for a recoil starter, and a starter motor, where the drive cam can be selectively operably connected to the rope reel or a starter motor. The rope reel is directly operably connected to the drive cam through a one-way clutch mechanism. Support plates are formed projected from the inner surface of the starter case toward the outer peripheral surface of the drive cam. Opposite ends of the drive cam are rotatably supportedly fitted into bearing holes formed in the support plates.

Starter for small-sized engine

A recoil starter includes: a rope reel on which a recoil rope, one end of which is held on an outside of a starter case, is wound and which is fitted turnably on a reel pivot formed on an inside of the starter case; a recoil spring that turns and energizes the rope reel in a direction along which the recoil rope is rewound; a cam member one end of which is fitted turnably onto the reel pivot to oppose to the rope reel and which transfers a turning to an engine side via a ratchet mechanism; and a coil spring-like damper spring both ends of which are engaged with the rope reel and the cam member respectively; a bearing portion that supports turnably the cam member; and a dust cover provided integrally with the starter case.

Recoil starter

A damper spring having a torsion coil spring-like shape is placed on outer peripheries of bosses respectively formed on a rope reel and a cam. The ends of the damper spring are engaged with the rope reel and the cam, respectively, so that the rope reel and the cam are rotatingly coupled with each other. A wire member constituting the damper spring is formed so as to have a section shape in which at least one side is linearly formed, and the damper spring is formed by winding the wire member into a coil-like shape so that the linear portion of the wire member is placed on an inner peripheral side, thereby enabling the inner side face of the damper spring to be tightly wound in a wide area around outer peripheral faces of the bosses.

A drive pulley is formed in a cup-like shape one end side of which is integrally formed with a peripheral wall in a cylindrical shape, the peripheral wall in the cylindrical shape of the drive pulley is formed with openings to be engaged with a ratchet member at intervals of 90 degrees along a circumferential direction, an engaging face for engaging with the ratchet member is formed at a side edge of each for the openings directed in an engine starting direction, and a side edge opened substantially orthogonal to the engaging face or by an angle equal to or larger than 90 degrees is formed at a side edge of the opening on an opposed side opposed to the engaging face.

A recoil starter having improved durability by inhibiting excessive deformation of a damper spring, and capable of receiving a damper spring with high shock-absorbing and force-storing capabilities. The recoil starter includes a rope reel and a cam which are rotated by pulling a recoil rope, so that a rotation of the cam is transmitted to an engine via a ratchet mechanism to start the engine. A damper spring which couples the rope reel and the cam to each other has, at opposite ends thereof, engaging portions radially movably supported by holding portions of the rope reel and the cam, respectively, so that substantially the overall length of the damper spring winds and tightens uniformly around outer peripheral surfaces of both bosses of the rope reel and the cam due to a startup resistance of the engine.

A recoil starter capable of preventing vibration of a damper spring due to vibrations of an engine caused during running of the engine, to thereby restrain abrasion of a rope reel, a cam and the like which are made of a plastic material, resulting in the durability of the recoil starter being enhanced. The recoil starter includes a drive section comprised of a rope reel which is rotated by pulling a recoil rope and a cam for transmitting the rotational force of the reel to a crankshaft of the engine through a one-way rotative transmission mechanism. A damper spring in the shape of a torsion coil spring is held in annular recesses formed in joint surfaces of the rope reel and cam to face each other while the damper spring is resiliently distorted, so that the rope reel and the cam are rotatingly coupled with each other through the damper spring.

A recoil starter capable of starting an engine easily has a reduced number of components and a simple structure, and enables miniaturization and a cost reduction. A damper spring having one end thereof fixed to a reel and provided at the other end thereof with an operation section is arranged in such a manner that the operation section thereof is engageable with a centrifugal ratchet provided on a rotating member of the engine, so that a shock caused by the engine is absorbed by the damper spring and a rotating force from the reel is stored therein.

Growing community of inventors

Tokyo, Japan

Isao Tohyama