Inertia and other Starters

Here's a link to a video of a SABB marine diesel with an inertia starter, pretty basic engine. The little white cylinders are called cigarettes, but don't inhale - they are made of some sort of cellulose with a pyrotechnic chemical that lights off at about 80° C. I've started one of these engines, and if it was warm out, it would fire without the starting aid, but when it was cool in the morning you would crank a long time before she'd pop if you didn't use one. No electrics, just plain jane 10 HP:



It was in a 42' ketch rigged ferro concrete hull. It definitely wasn't speedy but it would get you off your mooring and out where the wind was blowing.

All the best,

Mark

Mark
I love all those weird design small (and some big) boat engines from Europe and UK. The Chinese and Japanese have similar wild inventions.

I don't think that is an inertia starter.

It is just winding the engine and flywheel over as fast as you can with the valve lifters up then dropping them when you get to speed.

I suppose you could call it an Armstrong Inertia Starter.

Lang

Lang, I think you're right. Now that I think of it, that's what happened when the flywheel got up to speed, you popped a lever over to close the valves. Lister does the same thing with their individual cylinder compression release. When it's cold, you get the engine spinning with all three open, then close them one at a time. It smokes and stutters, then smooths out and runs fine.

Years ago I tinkered up a lifeboat engine, Perkins 4108 (?), might have been in Westerbeke colors. It had a starter on the front of the crankshaft, a wheel that weighed about what the flywheel did. It had a spring-loaded handle that stowed flat in a recess on the wheel. To start the beast, you pulled the handle out against the spring and spun the wheel as fast as you could. When you let go of the handle, a set of dogs grabbed the crankshaft and spun it over. When the engine fired, the dog arrangement was uncoupled centrifugally and the thing freewheeled. The owner told me it hadn't run for ten years that he knew of. I used kerosene and ATF half and half for fuel, spun it and it caught first time. Hard to believe, but i guess that was the idea. A lifeboat might sit for a while between uses, so a battery powered starter wouldn't suit. I don't remember a compression release. I've dug around on the web but can't find anything on this engine.

I think that is an inertia starter.

Mark

Here is a great system of spring start on a lifeboat. They call it a "Stored Energy" starter. This is totally different to a spring start lawnmower which winds up a long flat coil spring. This is a straight compression spring which drives a worm on release to spin the pinion.






Here is an air starter. Looks like it has an inertia function between the air vanes and the Bendix.


This air starter actually says it is inertia engaged.

Thats a turbine starter...................the common Bendix air starter on US trucks had phenolic vanes ,same as an air drill......the Bendix one just used a spin in gear,and were pretty hard on the ring gear ...........there was an improved one called a Startmaster that used the air to pre engage the pinion,same as a Delco electric.....I think these were an aftermarket ...........incidentally,at one time you could order the fiberglass cab Atkinsons with an air start on either GM or Cummins.....................I was told the air starts are banned because of noise ....but I dont know.

John

It is still an air starter. If you look at it they have two wheels. One just straight windmill V "paddles" to get it started then the turbine blades which do not work unless rotating (you can hold the propeller of a turbo prop aircraft and start and run the engine, you need to let it go and pick up speed before an airlock is created between the driving and driven turbine wheels.)

I think this type might be quieter than the explosive force needed with straight vanes.

lang

I ve got a startmaster in bits.........I must put it back together again.........been sitting for 40 years...or is it just 30?........so maybe some of the parts might have migrated.........anyhoo,it did have a plastic piston missing,....Jindalee Truck Electrics were the agents,and I remember when I went up there to get parts,he d just landed a big load of old stock from Martin Wilson Bros in town........who remembers them?............then I got kinda sidetracked and ended coming away with a load of NorthEast Electric parts and service gear........they made the electrics on Dodges and Reo s in the 20 s........including the strange "barrel" speedo that worked in forward or reverse equally well.