Combined rope starter and guard for gasoline engines

Claim 1

In an internal combustion engine having a crankshaft on which there is a blower flywheel and having a shroud enclosing the flywheel, Said shroud having a cooling air inlet opening through which an end portion of the crankshaft projects outwardly, means providing both a manual starter for the engine and a normally nonrotating guard covering said opening and enclosing said end portion of the crankshaft, the last mentioned means comprising: A. a driven clutch element fixed to said end portion of the crankshaft in outwardly spaced relation to the shroud; B. a pulley unit having 1. a hub portion which is freely rotatable on said end portion of the crankshaft and axially slidable between the driven clutch element and the shroud and which comprises a driving clutch element, 2. a peripheral pulley portion which is fixed to the hub portion and about which a pull rope can be wound, 3. a cup-shaped cover portion fixed to and projecting axially outwardly from said pulley portion and enclosing the driven clutch element and its adjacent end of the crankshaft, and 4. a skirt portion concentric to the crankshaft and projecting axially toward the shroud; C. cooperating one-way clutch means on the driven clutch element and on the hub portion of the pulley unit, engageable to constrain the driven clutch element to rotate in one direction with the pulley unit and cooperable to translate rotation of the driven clutch element in the opposite direction relative to the pulley unit into axial motion of the pulley unit toward the shroud; and D. a clip on the shroud, engageable with said skirt portion to restrain the pulley unit against rotation and from which the skirt portion is disengageable upon axial movement of the pulley unit away from the shroud and to a position of engagement of said clutch means.