The Mallins Engine Starting Device.

Progress, Volume IV, Issue 6, 1 April 1909, Page 193

The Mallins Engine Starting Device.

We are able to illustrate this week the simple and ingenious method of starting the petrol engines of motor-cars from the driver's seat which has been devised by Mr. C. W. Mallins, A.1.E.E., the general manager of the Liverpool Corporation Tramways. As will be seen from Fig. 1, which shows the arrangement in plan, on the starting handle shaft A is fixed a pulley

B, around the groove of which is laid one complete turn of a flexible wire cable, the end passes over a small pulley C attached to one end of a lever D, and then inside the bonnet and through the dashboard, terminating in a hand grip or stirrup J fixed at a convenient height for the driver to operate with the right hand. The pulley B is controlled by a spring G, one end being fast to the pulley and the other to some stationary part such as the bracket F. This spring always tends to wind the cable on the pulley after each operation, and also holds the couplings in the normal out-of-action position, thus performing the two operations, viz., rewinding the cable on the pulley and holding the couplings H and H 1 apart. To start the engine the driver pulls the grip J sharply towards him ; this pull, due to the cable passing around the small pulley C, swings over the lever D (which is pivoted at E). The latter abuts through suitable

bearings against the starting shaft at the point X, compressing the spring Gr, and bringing the coupling H into mesh with the coupling H 1 on the engine crankshaft. The continued pull revolves the pulley B, and transmits through the couplings H and H 1 the initial movement or revolution to the engine. The destructive effect of a back fire or premature explosion is guarded against by the addition of a pawl and crown cam on the starting shaft to throw the couplings out of mesh. In the operation of starting the engine, simultaneously with the couplings coming into gear, the crown cam L (Fig. 2) on the starting shaft A is brought into mesh with a round nosed pawl M, attached to the bracket N. When the starting shaft is rotated by pulling the cable the pawl slips over the teeth ; should a back fire occur, and the crank shaft P be rotated in the opposite direction, the pawl M is locked against the stop 0, and, due to the formation of the nose of the pawl and teeth of the crown cam, the starting shaft A is forced outwards and consequently the couplings H and H 1 separated. The device, which is not only inexpensive but does not prevent the use of the ordinary starting handle, has proved so effective in practice that it has been decided by the Tramways and Electric Power and Lighting Committee to fit it to all the motor-cars in the service of the Liverpool Corporation.