Abstract: A starting device has a strip connected to a pulley for a pull start mechanism. The strip is composed of a high performance plastic and is provided with an integral handle. A connection means connects the strip to the pulley on its distal end. The strip fits neatly in a coil around a pulley hub. It lays flat during storage and exerts substantially no lateral pressure against the walls of the pulley. With this construction, the strip does not fray and affords a storing mechanism that is cleaner than a conventional rope system. The starting device has few parts and is easy to assemble. It is lightweight, inexpensive to construct and facilitates starting in an efficient, reliable manner.

Abstract: A starting device has a rotary drive member that is operable by hand or power devices. The device has a detented or geared strip arranged to engage with a similarly detented or geared starting wheel. The teeth of these parts are designed to grab and lock with each other in the starting direction and to slip past each other in the opposite direction. Crimping, sticking and other failure modes of conventional wind up rope units are virtually eliminated. A more consistent pull is afforded owing to a constant radius interface with the starter wheel rather than a diminishing radius of the type delivered by a wound rope.