US1533072A - Electric starter - Google Patents

Description

April 7, 1925- C. P. BROCKWAY ELECTRI C STARTER 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

Cbr/ P Bmc/m/cy Filed Oct. 22, 1920 ATTORNEY April 7, 1925- C. P. BROCKWAY ELECTRIC STARTER Filed Oct. 22, 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Carl P Brochwy ATTORNEY.

- Patented Apr. 7, 1925 1,533,072 PATENT OFFICE.

CARL P. IBIROGKWAY, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, ASSIGNOB T INDUSTRIAI RESEARCH COR- POBA'I'ION, OF TOLEDO, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE ELECTRIC STARTER.

Application filed October 2%, 1920. Serial No. 418,805.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CARL P. BBOCKWAY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Toledo, in the county of Lucas and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Im rovem'ents in Electric Starters, of which I declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in the driving mechanism between a starting motor and the engine to be started and has for its main object the provision of an in termediate wheel between the motor and en gine wheels which moves along an arcuate path into and out of engagement with its driven wheel but is not supported by the motor shaft, thereby avolding a great amount of lateral thrust on the motor shaft.

Another object is to provide arc'uate guides in a stationar support for said intermediate wheel to s 'de bodily along said guides.

Another object is to provide reduction gears between said intermediate wheel and the motor shaft.

Another object is to provide the motor pinion and its cooperating gears with teeth of smaller pitch than that of the said intermediate gear. This permitsthe motor pin-.

ion to be made as small as maybe desired in order to get a high gear reduction between the motor and engine.

Another ob'ect is to provide a simple and effective fiexi le drive between the motor and the engine by making driving connection-of one or more ears to its or their shaft by inserts of flexlble material such as cork, rubber, etc.

Other. objects and those relating to simplicity of construction and economies of manufacture will appear herein as I proceed with a detailed description of those articular embodiments of my invention WhlCh for the purposes of illustration I have shown in the appended drawings, in which,

' Figure I is an end view of the motor showini its relation to a flywheel.

ilgure II is a side view of the motor and flyw eel.

Figure III is'a detail of a flexible drive connection. Fiflilre IV is section on line 4-4 of Figure 1 Fi re V is a view similar to Figure II but-s owin certain partsin section. I

Figure I shows a modified form of flexishaft 8.

ble drive connection between its shaft.

Figure VII is a view similar to Figure V but shows a modification of the flexible drive arrangement.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

' In Figures II to V, 1 represents a starting motor which is rigidly supported relative to the engine casing and havin - small pinions 2 and 3 fixed to the motor aft 4. The motor 1 has a bracket 5 rigidly mounted thereon, said bracket having two similar arcuate guide slots 6 and '7 having the motor shaft 4 as a center of curvature. Slidably and rotatably mounted in these guide slots 6 and 7 is a swinging shaft 8, which has mounted thereon two cars 9 and which are aligned and at al times in mesh with pinions 2 and 3 respectively. Also mounted upon the shaft 8 and in between the two gears 9 and 10 is another gear which is aligned with a gear wheel 16 and capable of being shifted mto and out of mesh therewith when shaft 8 swings through the arcuate' guides a pinion and 6 and 7. Gear wheel 16 is arranged to drive the engine shaft and preferabl is formed on the engine flywheel itself, ut may be any other gear which can drive the engine shaft. Gear 15 preferably has a smaller pitch circle than the two gears 9 and 10. This enables the gear ratio between the motor and the engine to be greater thus al-, lowing the motor to run at a higher speed. It is also preferable to have the teeth on gears 2, 3, 9, and 10 of smaller pitch than on gears 15 and 16,thu.s permittin a smaller diameter for the gears 2 and 3. of this is also to allow the "motor to run at a higher speed. If desired there may be only one pinion on the motor shaft and one gear on the swinging shaft 8 which swin s into and out of mesh with gear 16. Sf course with this arrangement all the ear teeth must be of the same pitch and t ere can be no additional gear reduction, as we have in the arrangements shown in Figures I, II, V, and

The operation of the invention will now be described. .With the motor 1 at rest the shaft 8 will be held in the dotted position 8' shown in Figure I, by a small spring .17 which snaps over the projecting end of the Of course any other spring or gravity means may be employed to hold the springy shaft 8'away from the gear 16. Now when the motor 1 is started in the direction shown by the arrow the sudden impulse upon the gears 9 and 10 will jerk the shaft 8 from,

behind the detent sprmg 17 and swing it 1 through the arcuate guides 6 and 7 until gear 15 comes into proper mesh with gear 16. The end of the guides 6 and 7 act as a stop to the swingin movement, or if desired an other suita le stop means may be provide such as a ieldable sprin which would prevent any s ock. Upon the stoppage of the swinging movement of shaft 8, the gear 16 begins to turn. When'the engine starts the gear 16 overruns the motor ears 2 and 3 and this causes the shaft 8 and its three gears to be swung upwardly through the guides 6 and 7 until gear 15 disengages gear 16, The inertia of this swinging movement and of the rotating gears is suflicient to cause the shaft 8 to snap behind the spring detent 17'. The motor switch is now-opened before the gears 9, 10,

and 15 have lost their high speed of rota tion and they now come to a stop and ready for the next starting operation.

It is desired that there be a flexible drive between .the motor and engine and therefore several such arrangements are shown in the drawings. In Figures III and IV, the shaft 8 has a spider 20 keyed'thereto. Rotatably mounted upon the shaft 8 is a pinion A which may be pinion 15 of Figures I or II or, if desired, the pinions 9 and 10. Pinion A is rotatably connected to the spider 20 by means of inserts 22 of some material such as cork, rubber, fiber, etc., which is placed between thelugs 21 and the corresponding recesses in the pinion A. This flexible drive between the motor and engine allows the engine to speed up as it passes over compression without immediately overrunning the gear 15 and causing the taking up of the back lash in the gear teeth.

Figure'V shows the middle gear 15 flexibly connected to the shaft 8 by means of the modified formof flexible connection shown inlligure VI. In Figure VI theshaft 8 is shown as having a square portion. 25 which lies within a larger square hole 26 in the car 15. The space between the square ortlon 25 and the pinion walls is filled with or sheets ofcompressible material ayers cork, rubber, or fiben. The compreferably .pressible material may be .held in place laterally by side plates which may be pinned to the gear 15 by means of pins 27 as shown.

- Figure VII shows a mod fication in which there is only one pinion 30on the motor shaft, which constantly meshes with the gear 31. which is keyed to the shaft 8. The two gears 32 and 133 are flexibly connected to shaft 8' by means of the form of flexible connection shown in Figure VI,.'and both of these gears 32 and 33 engage the teeth of the gear wheel 34 which preferably is the flywheel of the engine. Of course in this modification the pitch of the gears 30 and '31 may be made smaller than the pitch of the gears 32, 33, and 34.for the same reasons as previously mentioned in reference to Figures I, II, and V. Also the gear 31 may have the flexible connection to the shaft 8 instead of the gears 32 and 33. Orall three gears 31, 32, and 33 may have flexible connection to shaft 8' if it is considered desirable. Likewise all three of the gears attached to shaft 8 in Figures I, II, and V may have flexible connection thereto if desired. The operation of all of the modifications described is substantially the same.

While I have illustrated and described in more or less detail certain embodiments of my invention I do not wish to be limited thereto as various other modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of my invention as defined by the following claims.

What I claim is: 1. In a starter drive for an engine havin a shaft and a gear connected therewith, an a starting motor having a stub shaft driven by the motor, a plurality of spaced gears on 7 said shaft, a second auxiliary shaft associated with said starting motor having a plurality of similarly spaced gears thereon an arc-shaped guide for said last mentioned shaft concentric with said first mentioned stub shaft, and a pinion carried by said second mentioned shaft intermediate said gears thereof and adapted to mesh with the gear connected with the engine, saidspaced gears I stub shaft, a pinion carried by said second mentioned shaft. intermediate said gears thereof and adapted-to mesh with the gear connected with the engine, said spaced gears on said two shafts meshing,. the mechanism arranged to cause said pinion to engage said gear on the engineupon the starting of the motor by bodily movement of said second mentioned shaft in said arc-shaped. guide and automatically disconnected. therefrom.

and means to temporarily retain said :auxil iary shaft in disconnected position.

3. In a starter drive for an engine having 'shaft concentnc with said first mentioned a shaft and. a gear connected therewith, and a starting motor having a stub shaft driven by the motor, a plurality of spaced gears on said shaft, a second auxiliary shaft associated with said starting motor having a plurality of similarily spaced gears thereon, an arc-shaped ide for said last mentioned shaft concentric with said first mentioned stub, a third pinion carried by said second mentioned shaft intermediate said gears thereof and adapted to mesh with the gear connected with the en he, said spaced'gears on said two shafts mes ing, a yielding tor ue transmitting means in said gear train, t e mechanism arranged to cause said pinion to engage said gear on the engine upon the starting of the motor b bodily movement of therewith, and

a starting motor having a stub shaft driven by the motor, end bear ngs for, said shaft, a

plurality of spaced gears on saidshaft, a second auxiliary shaft associated with said starting motor having a plurality of similarly spaced gearsthereorna pair of arcshaped for the ast mentioned shaft concentric with. said first mentioned stub shaft, a inion carried by said second mentioned s aft intermediate said gears thereofand adapted to mesh with the gear connected with the engine, said spaced gears on saidtwo shafts meshing, a yielding tor ue' transmitting guides to provide two end supports means in said gear train, t e'mechanism arranged to cause said pinion to engage said gear on the engine upon the starting of the motor by bodily movement of said second mentioned shaftvin said arc-shaped guide and automatically disconnected therefrom,

and means to temporarily retain said auxiliaiiy shaft in Idisconnected position. g n testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

i v CARL P. BROGKWAY.

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