Sometimes we don't shut them off.

Sometimes we don't get away with it.

 

What is ???


Is it an air-starter ??

I have driven big trucks with air-starters; now, there is something that will spin her over, and a sound that is un-forgetable.

In a bad bind, on a manual truck, could not one jack up and remove a rear wheel, install a special-made starting wheel, and pull the rope ??

 

Two different friends, that were stationed in Alaska at different times, both have told me that, in the cities, there are electrical cords made into the parking-meters.

You park and plug in; then, if you don't pay, it will not spit out your plug.

When you put in the money, it will automatically release your cord.

This would have been during Vietnam and the Cold War era.

 

I have never seen those. Of course Vietnam was before my time. That would be cool to have parking meter plugins. Assuming you could find parking downtown here.

Most of the time when it's cold here once your running, you don't shut down until you are at work, home, etc.. Gassers included. Go into the grocery store at -40* and the parking lot is full of running vehicles trying to stay warm.

 

BK,
No it is a cartridge starter that the military used, you have to load a large shell the size of a grenade into a breech and when you fire it the expanding gasses move a helical piston converting linear motion into a twisting motion that engages with the flywheel.

The ones I have seen operate are really cool but they are violent starters.

http://www.sjvls.org/bens/bf010cs.htm
http://www.spitfirespares.com/Spitfi...ges/power.html

Air starters are nice and loud; Ingersol Rand makes them and should have one that will fit the Cummins starter.

There are also hydraulic starters I have seen on some standby generators where high pressure oil is stored in an accumulator, releasing the pressure into a hydraulic motor spins over the engine in a conventional manner. When the engine is running an onboard pump keeps the accumulator pressurized. There is also a hand pump to build pressure if the system fails.

You will also find these on some helicopters.

 

Is it me or have the prices for batteries jumped dramaticaly in the last couple of months?I was quoted 60.00 ea for a Trojan t-105 not too long ago and last week he said 135.00 ea!!!!!!Did I miss something?

 

I watched a guy start an antique farm tractor, numerous times, at a show, with cartridges.

As best I can remember, he wadded up some newspaper, stuck it in a cylinder, and set it on fire.

Then, he placed what looked like a standard 12-GA cartridge in a chamber, and fired it off.

The blast spun the engine over and the burning paper wadding ignited whatever it was that the tractor ran on.

I wanted to ask if the cartridges still had shot in them, or if they were something special, but there was such a gathering that I was fortunate to see as much as I did.

 

Some of the old diesel engines liked to have a bit of a fire in the intake manifold on startup.

 

My buddy has a 750 John deere compact tractor, circa 1980. The cold start on that little Yanmar is a fuel drip in the intake manifold that's lit on fire with a glow-plug type device. Pretty neat.

 

A lot of the "old Diesels" had pony motors. These are small gas engines that are sometimes 6 volt electric start or pull rope. The exhaust heats the main engine's cylinder head while it is warming up. Once the temperature is up enough you throw in the flywheel bendix to turn the diesel over. The John Deer "r" model is one and Catipiller used them on their construction equipment. A big heavy flywheel and a Briggs&Stratton five horse should do it.

 

Seen an old flat track CAT dozer with a hand crank pony. The crank handle was almost long enough to whack your hand on the track while cranking. Lots of fun there.

Don't forget the compression releases as well....