Patent ID: 8297250

Claim:
A recoil starter comprising: a case that is disposed on a surface of an engine; a reel pivot that is formed on the case; a rope reel that is rotatably supported on the reel pivot and that has a reel portion formed on an outer circumference thereof around which a rope is wound; a recoil spring that rotationally urges the rope reel to rewind the rope; a cam that is engageable with the engine via a clutch so as to transmit a rotational power to the engine; a power storage spring that is interposed between the rope reel and the cam to store a rotational power of the rope reel and that transmits the stored rotational power to the cam to thereby start the engine; and a power storage ratchet mechanism that is disposed between facing surfaces of the rope reel and the cam and that is configured to axially disengage the rope reel and the cam so that the power storage spring is coiled up when the rope reel rotates in an engine-starting direction, and axially engage the rope reel and the cam so that the rope reel and the cam rotate together while keeping a coiled-up condition of the power storage spring when the rope reel rotates in an opposite direction to the engine-starting direction.