Starter (engine) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Page 1 of 7

Starter (engine)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A starter is an electric motor, pneumatic motor, hydraulic

motor, or other device for rotating an internal-combustion engine
so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power.

Contents
■ 1 History
■ 2 Electric
■ 2.1 Gear reduction An automobile starter motor
■ 2.2 Movable pole shoe
■ 3 Pneumatic
■ 4 Hydraulic
■ 5 Non-motor
■ 5.1 Spring starter
■ 5.2 Self-starting
■ 6 Patents
■ 7 See also
■ 8 References

History
Before the advent of the starter motor, engines were started by
various methods including wind-up springs, gun powder
cylinders, and human-powered techniques such as a removable
crank handle which engaged the front of the crankshaft, pulling
on an airplane propeller, or pulling a cord that was wound around
an open-face pulley.

Originally, a hand-crank was used to start engines, but it was

A 1920s era self-starter
inconvenient, difficult, and dangerous to crank-start an engine.
The behavior of an engine during starting is not always
predictable. The engine can kick back, causing sudden reverse
rotation. Many manual starters included a one-directional slip or
release provision so that once engine rotation began, the starter
would disengage from the engine. In the event of a kickback, the
reverse rotation of the engine could suddenly engage the starter,
causing the crank to unexpectedly and violently jerk, possibly
injuring the operator. For cord-wound starters, a kickback could
pull the operator towards the engine or machine, or swing the
starter cord and handle at high speed around the starter pulley.
Even though cranks had an overrun mechanism, when the engine

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started, the crank could begin to spin along with the crankshaft
and potentially strike the person cranking the engine.
Additionally, care had to be taken to retard the spark in order to
prevent backfiring; with an advanced spark setting, the engine
could kick back (run in reverse), pulling the crank with it,
because the overrun safety mechanism works in one direction
only.

Although users were advised to cup their fingers under the crank
and pull up, it felt natural for operators to grasp the handle with
Typical starter installed underneath
the fingers on one side, the thumb on the other. Even a simple
backfire could result in a broken thumb; it was possible to end up and toward the rear of an automobile
with a broken wrist, or worse. Moreover, increasingly larger engine
engines with higher compression ratios made hand cranking a
more physically demanding endeavour.

While the need was fairly obvious—as early as 1899, Clyde J. Coleman applied for U.S. Patent 745,157
(http://www.google.com/patents?vid=745157) for an electric automobile self-starter—inventing one that
worked successfully in most conditions did not occur until 1911 when Charles F. Kettering of Dayton
Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO) invented and filed for U.S. Patent 1,150,523
(http://www.google.com/patents?vid=1150523) for the first useful electric starter. (Kettering had
replaced the hand crank on NCR's cash registers with an electric motor five years earlier.) One aspect of
the invention lay in the realization that a relatively small motor, driven with higher voltage and current
than would be feasible for continuous operation, could deliver enough power to crank the engine for
starting. At the voltage and current levels required, such a motor would burn out in a few minutes of
continuous operation, but not during the few seconds needed to start the engine. The starters were first
installed by Cadillac on production models in 1912. These starters also worked as generators once the
engine was running, a concept that is now being revived in hybrid vehicles. The Model T relied on hand
cranks until 1919; by 1920 most manufacturers included self-starters, thus ensuring that anyone,
regardless of strength or physical handicap, could easily start a car with an internal combustion engine.

Before Chrysler's 1949 innovation of the key-operated combination ignition-starter switch,[1] the starter
was often operated by the driver pressing a button mounted on the floor or dashboard. Some vehicles
had a pedal in the floor that manually engaged the starter drive pinion with the flywheel ring gear, then
completed the electrical circuit to the starter motor once the pedal reached the end of its travel. Ferguson
tractors from the 1940s had an extra position on the gear lever that engaged the starter switch, ensuring
safety by preventing the tractors from being started in gear.[2]

Electric
The electric starter motor or starting motor is the most
common type. The modern starter motor is either a permanent-
magnet or a series-parallel wound direct current electric motor
with a starter solenoid (similar to a relay) mounted on it. When
current from the starting battery is applied to the solenoid,
usually through a key-operated switch, the solenoid engages a
lever that pushes out the drive pinion on the starter driveshaft
and meshes the pinion with the starter ring gear on the flywheel
of the engine.

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The solenoid also closes high-current contacts for the starter

motor, which begins to turn. Once the engine starts, the key-
operated switch is opened, a spring in the solenoid assembly
pulls the pinion gear away from the ring gear, and the starter
motor stops. The starter's pinion is clutched to its driveshaft
1. Main Housing (yoke)
through an overrunning sprag clutch which permits the pinion to
2. Overrunning clutch, and
transmit drive in only one direction. In this manner, drive is
transmitted through the pinion to the flywheel ring gear, but if Pinion gear assembly
the pinion remains engaged (as for example because the operator 3. Armature
fails to release the key as soon as the engine starts, or if there is a 4. Field coils with Brushes
short and the solenoid remains engaged), the pinion will spin attached
independently of its driveshaft. This prevents the engine driving 5. Brush-carrier
the starter, for such backdrive would cause the starter to spin so 6. Solenoid
fast as to fly apart. However, this sprag clutch arrangement
would preclude the use of the starter as a generator if employed
in hybrid scheme mentioned above, unless modifications were made. Also, a standard starter motor is
only designed for intermittent use which would preclude its use as a generator; the electrical components
are designed only to operate for typically under 30 seconds before overheating (by too-slow dissipation
of heat from ohmic losses), to save weight and cost. This is the same reason why most automobile
owner's manuals instruct the operator to pause for at least ten seconds after each ten or fifteen seconds of
cranking the engine, when trying to start an engine that does not start immediately.

This overrunning-clutch pinion arrangement was phased into use beginning in the early 1960s; before
that time, a Bendix drive was used. The Bendix system places the starter drive pinion on a helically cut
driveshaft. When the starter motor begins turning, the inertia of the drive pinion assembly causes it to
ride forward on the helix and thus engage with the ring gear. When the engine starts, backdrive from the
ring gear causes the drive pinion to exceed the rotative speed of the starter, at which point the drive
pinion is forced back down the helical shaft and thus out of mesh with the ring gear.

An intermediate development between the Bendix drive developed in the 1930s and the overrunning-
clutch designs introduced in the 1960s was the Bendix Folo-Thru drive. The standard Bendix drive
would disengage from the ring gear as soon as the engine fired, even if it did not continue to run. The
Folo-Thru drive contains a latching mechanism and a set of flyweights in the body of the drive unit.
When the starter motor begins turning and the drive unit is forced forward on the helical shaft by inertia,
it is latched into the engaged position. Only once the drive unit is spun at a speed higher than that
attained by the starter motor itself (i.e., it is backdriven by the running engine) will the flyweights pull
radially outward, releasing the latch and permitting the overdriven drive unit to be spun out of
engagement. In this manner, unwanted starter disengagement is avoided before a successful engine start.

Gear reduction
Chrysler Corporation contributed materially to the modern development of the starter motor. In 1962,
Chrysler introduced a starter incorporating a geartrain between the motor and the driveshaft. Rolls
Royce had introduced a conceptually similar starter in 1946,[citation needed] but Chrysler's was the first
volume-production unit. The motor shaft has integrally cut gear teeth forming a pinion which meshes
with a larger adjacent driven gear to provide a gear reduction ratio of 3.75:1. This permits the use of a
higher-speed, lower-current, lighter and more compact motor assembly while increasing cranking
torque.[3] Variants of this starter design were used on most rear- and four-wheel-drive vehicles produced

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by Chrysler Corporation from 1962 through 1987. It makes a unique, distinct sound when cranking the
engine, which led to it being nicknamed the "Highland Park Hummingbird"—a reference to Chrysler's
headquarters in Highland Park, Michigan.[4]

The Chrysler gear-reduction starter formed the conceptual basis for the gear-reduction starters that now
predominate in vehicles on the road. Many Japanese automakers phased in gear reduction starters in the
1970s and 1980s.[citation needed] Light aircraft engines also made extensive use of this kind of starter,
because its light weight offered an advantage.

Those starters not employing offset geartrains like the Chrysler unit generally employ planetary
epicyclic geartrains instead. Direct-drive starters are almost entirely obsolete owing to their larger size,
heavier weight and higher current requirements.[citation needed]

Movable pole shoe

Ford also issued a nonstandard starter, a direct-drive "movable pole shoe" design that provided cost
reduction rather than electrical or mechanical benefits. This type of starter eliminated the solenoid,
replacing it with a movable pole shoe and a separate starter relay. This starter operates as follows: The
driver turns the key, activating the starter switch. A small electric current flows through the switch-type
starter solenoid, closing the contacts and sending large battery current to the starter motor. One of the
pole shoes, hinged at the front, linked to the starter drive, and spring-loaded away from its normal
operating position, is swung into position by the magnetic field created by electricity flowing through its
field coil. This moves the starter drive forward to engage the flywheel ring gear, and simultaneously
closes a pair of contacts supplying current to the rest of the starter motor winding. Once the engine starts
and the driver releases the starter switch, a spring retracts the pole shoe, which pulls the starter drive out
of engagement with the ring gear.

This starter was used on Ford vehicles from 1973 through 1990, when a gear-reduction unit conceptually
similar to the Chrysler unit replaced it.

Pneumatic
Main article: Air start system

Some gas turbine engines and Diesel engines, particularly on trucks, use a pneumatic self-starter. The
system consists of a geared turbine, an air compressor and a pressure tank. Compressed air released from
the tank is used to spin the turbine, and through a set of reduction gears, engages the ring gear on the
flywheel, much like an electric starter. The engine, once running, powers the compressor to recharge the
tank.

Aircraft with large gas turbine engines are typically started using a large volume of low-pressure
compressed air, supplied from a very small engine referred to as an auxiliary power unit, located
elsewhere in the aircraft. After starting the main engines, the APU often continues to operate, supplying
additional power to operate aircraft equipment. Alternately, aircraft engines can be rapidly started using
a mobile ground-based pneumatic starting engine, referred to as a start cart or air start cart.

On larger diesel generators found in large shore installations and especially on ships, a pneumatic
starting gear is used. The air motor is normally powered by compressed air at pressures of 10–30 bar.
The air motor is made up of a center drum about the size of a soup can with four or more slots cut into it

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to allow for the vanes to be placed radially on the drum to form chambers around the drum. The drum is
offset inside a round casing so that the inlet air for starting is admitted at the area where the drum and
vanes form a small chamber compared to the others. The compressed air can only expand by rotating the
drum which allows the small chamber to become larger and puts another one of the cambers in the air
inlet. The air motor spins much too fast to be used directly on the flywheel of the engine, instead a large
gearing reduction such as a planetary gear is used to lower the output speed. A Bendix gear is used to
engage the flywheel.

On large diesel generators and almost all diesel engines used as the prime mover of ships will use
compressed air acting directly on the cylinder head. This is not ideal for smaller diesels as it provides
too much cooling on starting. Also the cylinder head needs to have enough space to support an extra
valve for the air start system. The air start system operates very similar to a distributor in a car. There is
an air distributor that is geared to the camshaft of the diesel engine, on the top of the air distributor is a
single lobe similar to what is found on a camshaft. Arranged radially around this lobe are roller tip
followers for every cylinder. When the lobe of the air distributor hits one of the followers it will send an
air signal that acts upon the back of the air start valve located in the cylinder head causing it to open.
The actual compressed air is provided from a large reservoir that feeds into a header located along the
engine. As soon as the air start valve is opened the compressed air is admitted and the engine will begin
turning. It can be used on 2-cycle and 4-cycle engines and on reversing engines. On large 2-stroke
engines less than one revolution of the crankshaft is needed for starting.

Since large trucks typically use air brakes, the system does double duty, supplying compressed air to the
brake system. Pneumatic starters have the advantages of delivering high torque, mechanical simplicity
and reliability. They eliminate the need for oversized, heavy storage batteries in prime mover electrical
systems.

Hydraulic
Some diesel engines from 6 to 16 cylinders are started by means of a hydraulic motor. Hydraulic starters
and the associated systems provide a sparkless, reliable method of engine starting at a wide temperature
range. Typically hydraulic starters are found in applications such as remote generators, lifeboat
propulsion engines, offshore fire pumping engines, and hydraulic fracturing rigs. The system used to
support the hydraulic starter includes valves, pumps, filters, a reservoir, and piston accumulators. The
operator can manually recharge the hydraulic system; this cannot readily be done with air or electric
starting systems, so hydraulic starting systems are favored in applications wherein emergency starting is
a requirement.

Hydraulic Starter

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Hydraulic Starter

Non-motor
Spring starter

A Spring Starter uses potential energy stored in a spring wound

up with a crank to start an engine without a battery or alternator.
Turning the crank moves the pinion into mesh with the engine’s
ring gear, then winds up the spring. Pulling the release lever then
applies the spring tension to the pinion, turning the ring gear to
start the engine. The pinion automatically disengages from the
flywheel after operation. Provision is also made to allow the
engine to be slowly turned over by hand for engine maintenance.
This is achieved by operating the trip lever just after the pinion
has engaged with the flywheel. Subsequent turning of the
winding handle during this operation will not load the starter. Spring Starter
Spring starters can be found in engine-generators, hydraulic
power packs, and on lifeboat engines, with the most common
application being backup starting system on seafaring vessels.

Self-starting
Some modern gasoline engines with twelve or more cylinders always have at least one piston at the
beginning of its power stroke and are able to start by injecting fuel into that cylinder and igniting it.

Patents
■ U.S. Patent 745,157 (http://www.google.com/patents?vid=745157) - Clyde J. Coleman
■ U.S. Patent 1,050,739 (http://www.google.com/patents?vid=1050739) - R. C. Hull
■ U.S. Patent 1,464,714 (http://www.google.com/patents?vid=1464714) - Arthur Atwater Kent

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See also
■ Coffman starter
■ Hucks starter
■ Hybrid Synergy Drive
■ Vincent Hugo Bendix

References
1. ^ "Chrysler Family Debut", Popular Mechanics April 1949, p.122 (http://books.google.com/books?
id=SNkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA122&lpg=PA124#v=onepage&q&f=false)
2. ^ Ralph W. Sanders. Vintage farm tractors: the ultimate tribute to classic tractors
(http://books.google.ca/books?id=naldQDSyGRQC&pg=PA98) . p. 98. http://books.google.ca/books?
id=naldQDSyGRQC&pg=PA98.
3. ^ Chrysler Corporation (November, 1961) (paper). The 1962 Starting Motor and Alternator. Chrysler
Corporation.
4. ^ LaChance, David (2007-06). "Memorable
Mirada" (http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2007/06/01/hmn_feature7.html) . Hemmings Classic Car.
http://www.hemmings.com/hcc/stories/2007/06/01/hmn_feature7.html. Retrieved 2011-11-16. ""…the
twitterings of the Highland Park hummingbird, Mopar's famous gear-reduction starter…""
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Categories: Starting systems Vehicle parts

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