Abstract: Electric starters for automobile engines and the like comprise a pinion wheel driven by the starter motor, a solenoid switch and a lever operatively connected to the core of the solenoid switch and the shaft of the pinion wheel, so as to move the pinion wheel into mesh with a gear wheel of the engine to be started. In the starter of the present invention the lever does not have a fixed pivot. Instead, the end of the lever associated with the core is aranged to move linearly with the core, while its connection to the pinion shaft allows axial movement of the lever relative to the shaft. Between the two ends the lever has means adapted to bear against fixed surfaces to allow pivoting of the lever. In preferred embodiments means are incorporated which allow the core to complete its travel, even if the travel of the pinion is prematurely arrested by initial failure to mesh with the gear which it is to drive.

Abstract: A starter motor, particularly for internal combustion engines, has, as usual, a motor housing and a drive housing, the latter being provided with a mounting by which it can be fitted to the engine. However, instead of the usual method of joining together the motor housing and the drive housing, the motor housing is constructed to be rigidly secured to the drive housing and to the engine through the means by which the drive housing is attached to the engine. Thus, if the drive housing has an apertured flange for this purpose, the motor housing may also have a flange with corresponding apertures so that the same screw bolts or the like which hold the drive housing in place also hold the motor housing rigidly in position. The brushes are so located that they can be readily replaced without removing the starter.