Re: Elgin recoil

[legendre]

quote FrankR:

On any recoil starter, there is some way to make it engage with the flywheel and dis-engage when the motor starts or the rope is retracting. That is almost always some sort of automatic mechanism. Not so with the Elgin. You have to push the button down to engage it and let it up to dis-engage and recoil.

Hey, that’s interesting.. a manual recoil engagement mechanism? Haven’t come across that one before.. anywhere!

What era is this motor? I do know that recoil starters were more of a ‘post-war’ invention, in a lot of places.. My late 40’s Johnson motors still have a manual rope pulley sheave, down underneath the recoil starter housing.. so the old-timers wouldn’t throw a fit, having to rely on some new-fangled deal that might strand them when the old rope & stick could get them home.