Page 12 Advertisements Column 2

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 143, 5 July 1937, Page 12

A new method of starting aircraft? engines diff-ering from the electric or inertia starter has been developed in U.S.A. It is known as the Coffman starter. Power for starting is stored in a small cartridge weighing about one ounce. Sixteen • of these cartridges would onlysweigk about one pound, aud could easily be carried in any ship. The cartridge is ignited by an electric spark which can be obtained from a flashlight battery, and the gases of combustion from the fuel in the cartridge are transmitted to the starter proper by means of a tube. The starter consists of a cylinder with a piston inside operating a worm screw which transmits the energy to the crank-shaft of the aircraft engine, giving the engine complete power to turn at 200 r.p.m. This xesults in five or six revolutions of the engine at high speed. The starter is light in weight, and it eliminates the need of a booster magneto. It has been installed on the new Grumman aircraft of the United States navy and the Sevcrsky aircraft being constructed by the United States army. It has recently been accepted as standard equipment by the United States Government following exhaustive service tests in cold chambera and itt winter inAQoeuvroi,