Re: Mobil 1 in a lawnmower...

["G. Benedikt Rochow" <rochow@segsrv.hlo.dec.com>]

> 
> > (What sort of engine does it have - Briggs&Stratton, like
> > 90% of the mowers in Western Europe and the US? :)
> 
> Damned awkward starter - pulls horizontally.  Couldn't they afford
> to put an idler roller in?

Hah. That's how I remember them from Germany (or maybe
at an angle of ~20 deg to the horizontal), but in the
US now (I don't know since when, but I haven't seen one
without this feature) the rope goes through an ear in the push 
handle - because there's a motor brake and a spark cutoff 
attached to a spring loaded lever that goes across the push 
handle - you have to hold it with at least one hand, or it stalls -
great safety device. Because of it, the speed regulator doesn't
extend to the 'off' position anymore, so as I tape this safety handle
to teh push handle (I have better things to do when mowing than 
restarting every time I need both hands for something else), I
can no longer quickly turn it off.
Oh yes, the brake is weak enough to let you pull on the starter 
some for a while until you remember the safety, thinking 
something's wrong, and priming it to complete flooding...  

-gbr