Starting apparatus for an internal combustion engine

Starting device for an internal combustion engine including a rope pulley (10), a freewheel coupling having a driving coupling part on the pulley, and a driven coupling part on a flywheel of the engine. The driving coupling part includes a ratchet wheel (14) and the driven coupling part includes a movable pawl (18) adapted to engage the ratchet wheel. The ratchet wheel is frusto-conical and has its relatively smaller diameter end facing the flywheel. An outer leg of the pawl is angled to correspond to the taper or cone angle of the ratchet wheel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a pull rope starting device for an 
internal combustion engine wherein the rope starting device includes a 
freewheel coupling having a driving coupling part formed as part of the 
rope pulley, and a driven coupling part attached to the flywheel of the 
engine. 
In known starting devices of the aforementioned type the freewheel coupling 
comprises a cylindrical ratchet wheel and two pawls adapted to engage the 
ratchet wheel at diametrically opposite sides of the ratchet wheel. The 
pawls are pivotally attached to the flywheel of the engine and actuated by 
a resilient force in order to normally engage the ratchet wheel. When the 
engine has started, the pawls are acted upon by centrifugal forces created 
by rotation of the flywheel which counteracts the resilient force, thus 
releasing the pawls from engagement with the ratchet wheel. 
To reduce manufacturing expense, the ratchet wheel and the pulley are 
preferably made from one piece of plastic material. However, in order to 
assemble the freewheel coupling which incorporates a cylindrical ratchet 
wheel, it is necessary to bevel the pawls. Beveling the pawls allows the 
pawls to be mounted around the ratchet wheel against the action of the 
mentioned resilient force. Unfortunately, beveling the pawls reduces the 
area of engagement between the pawls and the ratchet wheel. The reduced 
area of engagement between the pawls and the ratchet wheel has resulted in 
problems in manufacturing a pulley and ratchet wheel assembly from plastic 
material which is strong enough to obtain a starting device with the 
desired reliability and durability. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of the present invention is to provide a starting device in which 
the above described problems have been reduced or eliminated. According to 
the present invention, the starting device includes a frusto-conically 
shaped ratchet wheel, wherein a smaller diameter end of the ratchet wheel 
faces the flywheel. In further accordance with the present invention, a 
portion of the pawl that engages the ratchet wheel is bent at an angle so 
as to correspond to the cone-angle of the ratchet wheel. 
The frusto-conical shape of the ratchet wheel provided by the present 
invention allows the ratchet and pawl coupling to be easily assembled by 
bringing the parts together axially. The pawls do not need to be provided 
with bevels that reduce the engagement area between the ratchet wheel and 
the pawls. Since maximum engagement of the ratchet wheel and the pawls is 
achieved by the starting device of the present invention, the result is a 
more even distribution of the loading on the teeth of the ratchet wheel. 
As a consequence, an improved strength of the ratchet wheel is obtained, 
which results in an extended service life and an improved reliability of 
the starting device.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 1, a starting device according to the present invention 
is shown to include a pulley 10 which is made of plastic material and is 
rotatably attached to a shaft 11. The pulley is rotated in a conventional 
manner by means of a pull rope 12 and a return or rewind spring 13. A 
ratchet wheel 14 is integrally formed with the pulley 10 and is provided 
with a plurality of teeth 15. 
FIG. 1 also illustrates a flywheel 16 attached to a crankshaft 17 of an 
internal combustion engine (not shown). The flywheel has two pawls 18 
which are rotatably attached at one of their ends to pins (not shown) 
provided at diametrically opposite positions of the flywheel. As shown 
best in FIG. 2, the pawls 18 are bent at an angle and provided with an 
outer leg 18a adapted to engage the teeth 15 of the ratchet wheel 14. The 
pawls 18 are actuated by a resilient force created by springs (not shown) 
in order to engage the ratchet wheel 14. 
The ratchet wheel 14 is generally frusto-conical in shape with a relatively 
smaller diameter end facing the flywheel 16. In the shown embodiment, the 
cone angle of the ratchet wheel 14 is about 30.degree.. In order for the 
outer legs 18a of the pawls 18 to properly engage the ratchet wheel 14, 
the outer legs 18a are bent at an angle that corresponds to the cone angle 
of the ratchet wheel 14. Hence, each outer leg 18a defines an angle of 
about 15.degree. with respect to the axis of rotation of the flywheel 16. 
The pawls 18 are resiliently actuated to normally engage the ratchet wheel 
14, and allow the flywheel 16 to be rotated by the pull rope 12. When the 
engine starts and the rotational speed of the flywheel 16 increases, the 
pawls 18 are pivoted outwardly due to the centrifugal forces acting 
against the resilient force of the springs (not shown), to a position 
spaced outwardly from the ratchet wheel 14, whereby the engagement between 
the outer legs 18a and the ratchet teeth 15 is automatically discontinued, 
and the pawls 18 rotate freely around the ratchet wheel 14. 
Due to the frusto-conical shape of the ratchet wheel 14, the ratchet teeth 
15 and pawl 18 coupling can be easily assembled by bringing the parts 
together axially, allowing the pawls 18 to be formed without bevels that 
would reduce the area of engagement between the teeth 15 and the pawls 18. 
As such, there is more even distribution of ratchet teeth 15 loading, 
resulting in an improved strength of the ratchet wheel 14, extending 
service life and improving reliability of the starting device. 
Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention is described 
herein, it should be noted that the present invention is capable of 
various modifications and rearrangements without departing from the scope 
and spirit of the present invention. For example, the angle of the ratchet 
wheel and/or the pawls may be changed. Therefore, the scope of the present 
invention shall be only defined by the claims appended hereto.