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There used to be a trick we used to test starters, once you get the connections right, the solenoid pull-in terminal figured out and you can operate the starter you can take a piece of soft pine, like a piece of 1-by and force the end of the board against the rotating Bendix gear. IIt will sort of function like a chipper-shreader, but it is an accurate test by loading down the motor as is works. Some starters will spin free OK but the minute you load them down they poop out.

I have a bad battery. It will not hold a charge. It will spin the engine for a few turns with the spark plugs removed, but then poops out. As you can tell from other threads I am on the hunt for a new battery before doing anything else with the starter.

I used a remote starter switch connected to the carburetor switch to operate the starter (ignition key on). The starter works in the conventional manner too from the inside using the gas pedal. I think owners of Packards with these carburetor switch starter system know about this, but doesn't hurt to post it again.

'nuf said.

(o{I}o)

Friends


Maybe I wasn;t clear. The air system in the Winton is organized like an ignition system or a mechaincal fuel injection, the air goes where it is needed in the firing order to spin the engine.

Winton also utilized offset crankshafts- the centerline of the crank is offset from the piston so that the con rod on the power stroke is moving straight down, not at an angle. ( " Wintons add power to gasoline") This may answer your question


Delauney-Belleville in France ("The Car of the Czars", I bet they didn;'t use that slogan after 1917!) used compressed air starting. The parlor trick was to start moving the car in gear on the air until the engine caught. Dead silent take off, unlike some of the cruise nights around here....


Regards


John Harley

The offset crank is known as Des-Axe. If u google it u'll find it's for easy starting of hand or leg cranked engines. Desaxe is still used today in small engines and was not uncommon during the prewar era among several manufacturers..

Air starters were used on Divco milk trucks as late as 1970 and also used on other fairly modern commercial/utility vehicles.

Guscha

Yes. there is some kind of air distributor between the air tank and the pipes going to the individual cylinders. It's been about 18 years since i saw that car, but I rather imagine it must be related to the mechanical fuel injection timer on a not so old Mercedes.

I don't know who invented the air starter. Alexander Winton was pretty clever and held over 100 patents : He helped Henry Ford out a lot as he saw Ford was talented and determined. Later on he became very involved in diesel engines. Winton Diesel was sold to GM in 1924 and became the basis of their Detroit Diesel Division. As Packard cable was sold to GM and became part of Delphi, there is s rough symmetry.

Unfortunately Winton is best remembered for his spotty customer service that lead to the rise the Packard motor car. I have first hand experience the family is still pretty sensitive about it


Regards


john Harley

Gerd, an absolutely fascinating video. The steering wheel/column starter is most interesting dual use of one component. I do have to ask one thing, though: If this is the answer, what was the question? Let me venture a guess. A way to get an engine to start and run in extremely cold temperature situations without having to rely on a battery or an ignition system?

(o{I}o)

The offset crank is known as Des-Axe. If u google it u'll find it's for easy starting of hand or leg cranked engines. Desaxe is still used today in small engines and was not uncommon during the prewar era among several manufacturers..

This is still done today to silence piston slap. Except now they offset the wrist pin in the piston.

The last engine I know of with the crankshaft offset was the Ford flathead V8 although, there are probably others.

I don't know when it started but I have seen a magazine ad for a luxury car from about 1913 that included it in a list of features.