1801 9th Street Victoria, Virginia 23974
This is a photo of a recently restored 1 HP Stover, hit and miss
engine, for which I have devised a method of starting with less
strain on my part. I’m 80-plus years old and still very much
like tinkering with the old engines, so some method of automatic
cranking has become a necessity. I utilized an old ring gear from a
discarded car engine, and the starter motor from the same
auto-mobile. By fabricating a bushing with my lathe to fit this
ring gear to the engine shaft, I securely locked it into the gib
key slot with a set screw. Next, I welded a mounting bracket for
the starter and bolted this to the hit and miss engine base. Also,
I used a manual push starter switch to connect the 12 volt battery
to the starter motor with a #4 copper cable. Now we were all set to
give it a try.
Yes-Sir-Ree, now I can crank all day if necessary, while making
adjustments to the carburetor and speed control!
The gear arrangement is a bit noisy on starting, but there is no
reason this same arrangement couldn’t be done with a V-belt
pulley system as well. Enjoying more cranking less!
