Patent ID: 7665439

Claim:
A starter for moving a movable portion of an engine to start the engine, the starter comprising: a gear housing having first and second opposite ends; a gear assembly within the gear housing and including a plurality of speed-reducing gears; an output member at the first end of the gear assembly adapted to operably couple to the movable portion of the engine; a motor housing having a first end mounted to the second end of the gear housing and a second end opposite the first end; a motive fluid inlet adapted to permit a flow of motive fluid into the motor housing; a rotor mounted within the motor housing and rotatable within the housing under the influence the flow of the motive fluid; and a motive fluid outlet mounted to the second end of the motor housing, and adapted to exhaust the motive fluid to a desired destination after the motive fluid has flown though the motor housing; wherein the rotor has a shaft portion and a vane portion, the shaft portion and the vane portion being an integral, unitary piece, the shaft portion having splines for mating with and transferring torque to the gear assembly, wherein the rotor is formed from aluminum and at least a portion of the rotor includes an anodized coating.