Foot Actuated Lawn Mower Starter

We all know the traditional lawn mower starting maneuver. Grasp the cord and vigorously yank it across your torso.

This device offers an alternative to such a maneuver, allowing the user to start up a gas powered pull-cord lawn mower with a stepping force similar to a kick-start.

What's the point of this you ask? Well, remember there are people who don't have the luxury of upper body strength. Those who have upper body disabilities or feebleness (such as elderly folks) cannot execute such a task that many of us take for granted.

This project includes a variety of different parts, such as:

• Stepping Pedal - The part where the user applies stepping force

• Crank Arm - The component that converts the stepping force into torque

• Gear Train - A 3:8 gear overdrive train that creates greater spool rotation from a given stepping pedal rotation

• Spool - Reels the lawn mower's cord

• Rubber Bumpers - Limit the travel of the crank arm to 90°, the rotational distance required to meet the pull-cord's starting travel distance specification

• Base & Struts - The framework of the mechanism that ergonomically keeps all components intact

• Safety Guard - A safety mechanism that protects the user's planted foot from dynamic components

This project was modeled, assembled, and drafted via SolidWorks. Parts numbers that do not start with "CP" are commercial off the shelf (COTS) parts. All animations were created through SolidWorks Motion Study. All simulations were carried out through Solidworks Simulation.

Material choice was primarily aluminum. Other components include ABS, and neoprene.