Patent ID: 8256396

Claim:
A power cutter comprising: a housing; a two stroke internal combustion engine mounted within the housing; a throttle switch by which the engine can be accelerated when the engine is running; a support arm mounted on the housing and which projects forward of the housing; a blade mounting mechanism rotatably mounted on the end of the support arm and which is capable of being rotationally driven by the engine when the engine is running; a carburetor for providing aerated fuel for the engine; an air intake for providing air for the carburetor; an air filtration mechanism to filter the air drawn in from the air intake for the carburetor; a fuel tank for providing fuel to the carburetor; and an exhaust through which the exhaust gases generated by the operation of the engine are expelled from the engine; an engine controller which controls the operation of the engine; an oil tank for providing lubricating oil for the engine; an oil pump to pump lubricating oil from the oil tank to mix it with fuel; and a sensing system which determines whether sufficient lubricating oil is being provided for mixing with the fuel in accordance with predetermined parameters, wherein the sensing system provides an indication to the engine controller of when the lubricating oil is not being provided in accordance with the predetermined parameters, the engine controller placing the engine either in an idle mode or switching it off when the sensing system indicates that the lubricating oil is not being provided in accordance with the predetermined parameters.