Abstract: A starter assembly comprising a housing, a pulley rotatably mounted in the housing and having pivotally mounted therein pawls for engagement with a coupling that turns an engine. A brake assembly portion of the starter includes a molded plastics retainer including a base portion, legs extending from the base portion, and protrusions extending from the base portion and engageable by the pulley pawls to cause the retainer to rotate with the pulley. The legs of the retainer are disposed in a central opening of a pulley center shaft and are biased radially outwardly to engage the interior of the center shaft to restrain rotation of the retainer. The assembly further includes turning means by which an operator causes rotation of the pulley.

Abstract: A rope pulley for an internal combustion engine recoil starter using a spiral recoil spring to rewind the starter rope upon the pulley. The improvement consists of the use of a recoil spring end lock defined on the pulley to prevent the spring end from disengaging from its anchor on the pulley during recoiling or due to pulley deformation. The spring end lock consists of a cap plate associated with the pulley slot forming the recoil spring anchor and a retainer wall all related in a manner to achieve the desired result.

Abstract: A pawl for a recoil starters for internal combustion engines wherein the pawl radially extends into a driving relationship with the engine to be started during cranking and retracts during recoiling of the starter mechanism or upon engine starting. The invention utilizes a pawl having a non-linear configuration wherein an increased pawl angle is achieved with respect to the operating mechanism to rapidly position the pawl during the engine cranking operation, and the pawl outer end approaches a tangential relationship to the engine mounted abutment engaged by the pawl end to improve the pawl engagement with the abutment and limit concentric misalignment of the starter with the engine during cranking.