Patent ID: 7886706

Claim:
An internal combustion engine, comprising: a crankcase; a crankshaft held within the crankcase; and a starting system, comprising: a recoil starter being configured to rotate the crankshaft for manually starting the internal combustion engine; and an electric starting system that includes: a starter motor including a motor casing and a drive member in selective driving relationship with said crankshaft; a key; and a housing defining a volume thereof, at least part of the motor casing being mounted within the volume of the housing; a power connector mounted in a first opening in the housing and exposing at least two conductive tabs for releasable engagement and electrical conduction with corresponding sockets of a removable power cord, the tabs communicating with conductors extending into the starter motor and being provided within the volume of the housing; a starter control switch mounted within said housing volume and having contacts connected to at least one conductor of the power connector; a key interface mounted within said housing volume and accepting the key therein, such that said key and said key interface together are rotatable between a first position in which said key is selectively engageable and disengageable with said key interface, and second position in which said key is engaged with said key interface to operate the starter control switch to controllably connect power from the power connector to the starter motor; an engine shutdown switch mounted within said housing volume and controlling an engine control circuit for selectively preventing operation of the engine; and wherein the housing of the electric starting system and recoil starter are separate from each other so that each of (i) the recoil starter, and (ii) the electric starting system is removable from the remainder of the internal combustion engine independently of the other.