Patent ID: 7152563

Claim:
An operation unit of an engine starting and stopping the engine via a start motor and controlling an engine rotation, wherein the operation unit comprises: a throttle operating lever operating a throttle valve of the engine from an idle position to a full-open position; two switches connected in series inside a circuit for driving the start motor, wherein one of the switches comprises two terminals comprising a first contact terminal connected to the start motor and a second contact terminal separating from the first contact terminal, and a contact element interposed between the two terminals and setting the two terminals to a conduction state or a non-conduction state; and another switch comprises a start switch making a connection between the second contact terminal and the start motor conductive or non-conductive; interlocking means for relatively bringing together at least one of the two terminals and the contact element or for relatively making the one of the two terminals and the contact element separated in correspondence to an operation amount of the throttle operating lever so that the one of the two terminals and the contact element are made conductive or non-conductive; and the contact element being arranged at a contact position wherein the two terminals are made conductive by the interlocking means at a time when the throttle operating lever is at the idle position.