Would YOU Use This DANGEROUS Idea? 

20 years old and still working doesn't seem that bad.

22 yrs old and still working....better than what I can say for most of the junk I see that's way newer.

Not an entirely bad idea. At least you don't have to worry about a battery going dead.

I have a shoulder replacement. I think its a great idea. A battery starter means dying battery when you need it. So mechanical appeals to me.

I think it's a good idea. Do you remember the starter they had that you cranked up then released, these are good ideas for older people that have trouble starting lawnmower

Those engineers stayed up late working on that. As others have said, it's pretty clever. At the very least, it demonstrates just how much people hate pulling a start cord.

I actually just worked on a Troy-Bilt mower that had this feature on it about two months ago. The mower hadn't ran in at least 15 years from what I understand. The starting mechanism was sticky and I had to buy a new cable, but I did get it working nicely in the end. Once you figure out how to use it, it really wasn't that bad to use. It just wasn't the most obvious thing to figure out when all the instruction stickers were worn off after sitting in the weather for 15 years. The mower ended up running really well, surprisingly.

Actually, had this on my cub cadet push mower that I used for small areas in yards I loved it. All you had to do was crank it up the first time after that to re-crank all you had to do, was touch the button and push down on the lever on the handle, and it would start the mower without having to yank the cord, worked out great when you’re bagging.

Its a good concept. I think it might be a problem to work on. I have a "retired" neighbor that struggles to pull start her push mower so i found her a used tb280es. She still loves to mow and uses it for a workout. The electric start is a much better solution for her.

I think it’s good in principle but I can definitely see the dangers of this with DIY’s.

A pretty clever bit of engineering. As for protecting the dummies, if you don’t know or are able to understand the hazards involved then don’t do it. All the best Taryl.

Some one put a lot of thought into the design. Definitely thinking outside the box.

I remember that Briggs and Stratton engine with a rewind starting system where you had to wind up the starter system flip the handle And the rewind system would start the engine

I think it's genius, double genius using the momentum to rewind it. I could see them being replaced a lot, having the spring under tension for long periods probably weakened it prematurely. There are spring starters for big diesel equipment also but you have to hand crank them. Makes sense for off road diesels since they don't need electric to run.

I like this idea better than an electric starter that needs a battery. Seems to me if there were security bolts holding it on that required a wrench only available through B&S, more warning labels, and an effective engine shutoff to prevent accidental starting then the risks might be less. I'd love to have this feature on a portable generator.

Hello from Brampton, Ontario, Canada. I have a Yardworks mower from 2001 with one of these spring loaded starters. The spring starter still works flawlessly, to this day and has never been an issue with discharging accidentally. This really was a cost effective alternative to an electric start.

I worked in B&S engineering at time Touch & Mow was developed. B&S always wanted push button starting. I have a trimmer mower with this system, some time ago the cable broke and couldn’t find a replacement and now I had no way to start or stop the engine. I got parts from another Quantum engine and removed all the Touch & Mow parts so I could the rewind. It always reminded of the wind up spring systems from the 1960’s. I do remember that Yard Man wanted exclusive rights to the Touch & Mow system for 1 year. I don’t think any other OEM ever got it.

I can see the potential dangers, but i do think it's useful in competent hands. Bring it back!

WOW, I literally just pulled one of those off a Briggs model 12 engine at the scrapyard yesterday! I thought it was an electric starter, but thinking about it, I didn't see any wires sticking out of it. The engine had been attacked by the Claw, so it was trash, but this unit was OK, except the mounting bracket was broken off. I took it off by cutting the cable, and brought it home to dissect it, like I do to some starter motors etc. Glad I watched this vid, just in case the spring is still wound up (not likely, but possible), Thanks Taryl, you may have saved my bacon!!! :) -Miles

Wow what an ingenious idea, I'm actually surprised this isn't used more!

I worked at Lowes in inside lawn and garden during that time. A lot of senior citizens bought them, then would return them because they couldn't get the mower started, the instructions on the mower was very bad. Another thing, was price, the mowers started at about $600. About 03 they were phased out and lowes didnt carry them anymore

Doesn't bother me. Those that pay attention don't run into problems with machinery like this. The more safety ''features'' that are added the dumber we get.

Hi Taryl. Interesting version of an auto start mower. At least it has the pull cord to start it if it fails to start. It was probably sold to older folk to save them the effort (bad shoulders etc..) when starting their mower. I have a few older customers that struggle to use the pull start when they want to cut their lawn, so prefer electric start nowadays.

This is quickly becoming my favorite segment I love all the Oddball stuff

What a great way to start my sunday! :) keep on keepin on grass rats!

I think this is genius! This might get rid of the need for a battery start and would probably work most of the time. Depending on how strong the gearing is that winds up this spring (looks like good metal) and how well built the spring mechanism is, it might very well outlast a 12v starter. If consumers are so stupid that they can't figure out how to be careful with these things when trying to do repairs then too bad. You indeed can't fix stupid. Your brother was right. As to why this didn't sell.... it was expensive to manufacture these things and there was a substantial mark up for mowers having it.

Seems like a good idea to me. Recoil self starting with regular pull start backup. Victa over here in Australia had wind up starters in the 70s which were great unless the motor was hard to start or the spring broke, the pull start on this again alleviates this problem. Honestly if you were stupid enough to hurt yourself while working on such a simple system you are not qualified to operate machinery and probably deserve it 😄.

Lawnmower Larry here just wanted to say I always appreciate your videos 🎉🎉🎉🎉 thx

Seems like a great idea, old mower still works perfectly

We had a Masport with one of these in our shop last year. A pretty good idea for when you have to keep emptying the grass bad. But yes it could be dangerous.

That's not a terrible concept really. The danger lies in the self-winding and the normal state of the starter being in a charged state. A much better procedure would be to charge the spring with the pull rope before each use as Taryl discovered. It is totally amazing that the part is still available.

I have one of these mowers. And I love it. I've been using it for the last 8 years. I saved it from the trash heap at work. Never had it false start while working on it or changing the oil. I have had it stall-out while mowing if the orange button or cable releases tension. Currently , it no longer starts without pull starting. When I got it used, you had to run the mower for a bit, then on the next start it would start. I figure the starter gave out, so I now start it the old-fashioned way. It's been a great mower. I've been using it to mulch leaves.

Kind of like an inertia starter on radial engines. Good thing Breaks and Scrapum didn't think of using shotgun starts.

Great idea, have one that 20 years old and still running good.

I think Briggs ideas was sound for people who have a hard time pulling a mower to start, but the potential dangers are high, maybe Hanlon's razor, "Never attribute to evil that which is easily explained by stupidity" is the reason?

My dad had a toro I believe in the 70s that had a hand crank to wind up a spring for starting. It was on top in place of the pull start and you wound it then shoved the throttle forward to activate it.

Regenerative Braking? How many people have dead batteries on their electric start mowers? I think it is a great idea -especially for older people or someone with a shoulder injury (me). You could use that feature to restart the mower after picking up debris or dumping the bag. Very rarely do I mow my yard with one start of the engine. Even if the first start has to be a pull start, a warm engine would do fine with the spring starter. It looks no more dangerous than any other mower for the user so long as the safety system works. Mechanics need to release the tension.

Taryl, another idea that I read about in the 60's Clinton built a "Spark Pump" using a pezo electric crystal for the ignition

I've never seen this feature and my mower is from around the same year and still works. That feature was probably on other models when I bought mine. It's kind of a cool feature but my mower still starts in under 3 pulls, thanks to your help !!!! Thanks Taryl !!!

Love the mysteries and oddities! Great videos of some vintage stuff. And that is when that mower was created. Back when a guy used to read their owners manual for all the great tidbits to keep their new purchase running. True the mentality now, says that I'll look at the instructions later, or even worse... Who needs instructions anyways. So yes in that aspect it would be a hazard for the guys who just dove in fire repairs or maintenance without releasing that spring energy. I get that. But then again...... Most any snow thrower or two stage blower has this huge rotating auger mounted in front, without any guard at all, and there is only one sticker warning to keep hands, children and pets away from the machine. And now they even included a small plastic shovel to help keep fingers intact when the shute clogs up! Lol Heck.... In the 60s My dad had a small 1x1" stick he kept on the machine just for that reason, and he taught us about it and the whole family never missed a digit! There comes a point where we can't be responsible for the actions of others if everything is functioning and labeled correctly. If Dad forgets to take out the key then Shame on him, especially if he didn't do like the old school dad did and explain things to the kids so they didn't get hurt, messing around where they shouldn't be. And if little Johnny was warned and still did it.... Well he became the example for all the other kids on the playground who could still count to ten on their fingers. So I'm not going to call that dangerous if operated and treated correctly. As a matter of fact I think it's a rather neat idea to overcome the fact that a lot of women say they would mow the lawn while your at work but can't start the mower. It definitely had its place in time for sure. What they need to do was to make the key mechanism a two step lock that you would have had to not only insert the key but turn it and then remove the key to let it try to start once. That way the key is always in Dad's pocket, and it would still give the Mrs. an excuse as to why she couldn't mow the lawn. You had the key in your pocket at work.... So I couldn't mow the lawn! Lol lol So retire that bad boy to the museum and let the debate roll on, because years later that mower seems to be rolling on also! Hey on a personal note.... You got a great channel here with excellent content and we just gotta love the skits! Keep up the good hard work and..... "And....There's your Dinner"! ©️ ⬅️You need to do that. Later. JPol..

😂 "What lies beneath the surface of dust and filth..." Yeah, buddy. I worked in an OPE shop for years, and that is the truth! Once a year, we'd basically take a fire hose to the whole shop area just to see what would get flushed out of the dark, scary corners...

I still have basically that same model, except has the small wheels on the back. Is a bagger / mulched model. Worked awesomely until the gas tank started leaking. The leak was in a spot I could not for the life of me repair. This style of gas tank looks like a normal style, however, with that starter mechanism, there is a molded relief area to allow for. Trying to find a replacement gas tank for this model is nearly impossible within a reasonable price. I ended up removing the starter mechanism and put on a “normal style” gas tank. Kind of jerry rigged but still is running until this summer season. I think this was a great idea and it worked for me always. Yes absolutely this design is for people who are adapt to mechanical operations and their functions. There are some quirks to this as was demonstrated in the video. One thing I never did is store the machine with full spring tension. I don’t remember if that was described in the owner’s manual but that’s what I did. This machine still works good but definitely not worth trying to get the spring start to function again.

Brings changing the blade to a whole new level 🤣

VERY interesting! Probably needed by those who hate pulling a starter cord. My current walk behind mower that I use only on a small section of my front yard, to mow around my GF's flower beds, is a LawnBoy 4 stroke, electric start. Had been owned by a lady who hated pulling cords, or maybe was too weak to? She sold it to me for $60 because the starter quit working but it ran fine. Starts usually on the first or second pull. I saw no reason to repair the starter. Must be what this sort of mower was meant for, the same sort of person.

In 1964 my grandfather had a new Sears Briggs spring wind up start lawn mower. When the spring failed, we took it off. Then we had to wrap a starting cord around the top.

I had a customer that had a toro recycler with this feature. It always worked, and I thought it was pretty cool.

It's definitely a clever idea. I could see it being handy for older people or smaller people who don't have the strength to use the pull start and not having a battery and electrical system to fail is great. In theory, this system could last a very long time. The main problem I see is it looks like one pull worth of cranking is about all you will get from that, so if the engine is flooded or hard to start for some other reason (the time where an electric start would be most useful), this will be useless.

Looks like it was used pretty well, looking at the rear wheel tread wear.

The fact that one of those mouse trap starters is still functioning 20-some years later is nothing short of amazing.

I can see where Briggs is coming from with the touch and mow. It was probably designed for the elderly who couldn’t pull the mower over any more but you only have that one shot before it runs out of spring tension before having to pull it over again

I have a neighbor who needs the electric start on her mower, that is an excellent idea to avoid the 12v system and the issues they can come with during the long winter storage.

The Honda NC50 Express moped had a wind up starter. It did not have the auto wind upon shut down but it was the only option for starting. You wound it with a foot pedal then pulled the rear brake lever to start. Techuseh also had a wind up starter. Saw it on my brother in laws Big Mow.

Taryl, for just a second I thought you were going to say, 'This is going next door to the lawyer's office.' I guess that would just be asking for trouble. Yes, it's better in your collection.

there are these Viking lawnmowers being sold in Scandinavia being sold with a Briggs & scrap'em engine with the same start, the one i had a look at over 5 years ago was at least 15 years old and the starter did the trick every time. so it seems gimmicky but works better than expected.

These were a nifty idea from B&S as long as you don't run the engine low on oil. I have one in my garage that the top part of the engine block where the crank comes through to the flywheel was all worn out and wobbling back and forth because the engine was run low on oil and the spring loaded rubber tire was pushing on the flywheel screwing up the crank bearing. It still ran but was knocking something fierce and had to be scrapped out.

Kind of reminds me of the old wind-up starters they had in the '60's. I can remember as a 5-year old messing with these in a Sears store while my grandparents tried to pull me off the mower...

I have one of those yard man self starters with the high wheel 3 in 1 mulch/bag/discharge with the touch and mow. Bought it new in 2001 and used it up till about 2 years ago. Replaced it with a new Toro commercial walk behind for my growing lawn business. When I used it regularly it mowed and bagged 3 yards a week. That starter system worked flawlessly all those years and is still working yet to this day. I think it was a cool idea and loved the one I have.

Personally, I think it's actually a pretty cool idea. A double action lockout would be a good upgrade, but yes, N.O.P.E.s will find a way of hurting themselves on any machine, no matter how safe they are. Your brother is an insightful guy. Looking at those tires too, it seems like it's pretty durable. If it still works after that much use, I think B&S actually did something right for once. 😃

Thank you Taryl!

I hear people saying spending the extra money for electric start is a waste, but with my torn rotator cuff, I havent been able to pull quickly for most of the summer. I'd be curious how much this added back in the day. The idea of stored potential energy can be scary though especially if you dont know how it works and just start ripping into it. That could be dangerous.

I like it. I want one now! This is a great "true green" design. But bad for battery companies

Bad idea, I had a co worker in a machine shop that has one of those and wanted me to fix it. That feature kept breaking along with the tank splitting at the seam total fecal engineering. He kept calling it a lawn boy, I corrected him every time. They weren't that stupid! And he wanted everything fixed cheap 😂 good video Taryl.

I like it ! Wish my mower had it . I don't see how it anymore dangerous than electric start.

I think it's kinda cool...Worked in a Small Engine shop in the late 80,s.

I well remember that crazy idea back when they came out. I never had one apart though. I’m surprised that spring on your mower has not broken at this point.

I worked at MTD in Verona Mississippi when these were being made. I lost count if how many engines we had to send back because the spring starters were defective. I didn't work on these contraptions. I was a welder building snow blower augers.

I’m digging it! Even with the fuel filter in backwards.

This is one your better series guys. I love lawn mower mysteries and oddities!

I actually think its a really cool and useful feature. If it doesnt start first try, so what? Just give it a pull. Either pull all the time with a normal mower, or have this feature and have a good chance of it self starting. Its not like you are in a worse place than using a regular mower, if it doesnt work, just pull the thing. Also, the bald wheels tell me thet that mower has had some use, so for being almost 23 years old, its impressive that it still works as intended, doesn't even seem to be worn or weak. As far as dangers go for the "diyer", if you get hurt by working on something you dont know about without reading the service info, its your own fault. Because something is dangerous, its not a bad design lol.

Hey I seen one yearrrs ago. Unique Thank you for the solved mystery issues.

I can see how it could be a hazard, but honestly I really like it!

With the advent of battery powered lawn equipment coming of age, you don't realize how close a lot of this equipment is soon to disappear! A museum is a great idea!! 💡🏆😂

Mr. Dactyl, have you seen the battry the electric cars use? They're 400 Volts DC. If you get into contact with 400 Volts DC you are DEAD! Once you connect you can't let go and it cooks you. And if someone tries to help they get cooked. In the safety class they said have a 2X4 handy to try to push a victim away but don't touch w/ your hands. B&S may have a clown show spring starter but ALL of the car companies are making cars w/ 400 Volt battrys. I kept telling the instructor (at GM) they should identify the polarity w/ Red & Black but they didn't listen. Both wires are Orange on GM's. I tried & tried to tell them once those cars fall into the hands of typical DIY'rs they're going to try to jump start them and there will be lawsuits up their ying yang. They wouldn't hear it. ben/ michigan

A neighbor gave me a TroyBilt with this engine. I believe it is a good idea for a responsible user, but like you said, you can't protect people from themselves. The concept is good for someone who isn't able to pull the start mechanism and you don't need to worry with replacing or charging a battery. I definitely see a danger for a careless operator.

Taryl’s Theorem - Any procedure meant to ease operator operation and maintenance of gas powered lawn equipment usually isn’t.

Slick idea from an engineering standpoint!

That intro never gets old

A couple older mopeds had the same principle. You "kicked" to wind up the spring and pulled a lever for the spring to release and "kickstart" the engine

I remember 60 years ago my grandfather had a mower with a winding handle on the top. Wind up the spring and flip a release lever to start.

Thats really a great feat of engineering- (no sarcasm) They probably had to stop production due to a lawsuit by someone not following directions as usual. I like it !

If I had my own lawn mower museum, I would have to have an engine with this option in there somewhere. When you get older and you can't pull the cord fast enough, an option like this can make the difference between being able to mow the lawn or not. Personally I think this is a great idea and one that I have thought of myself - I didn't realize that they had actually put it into production! The same idea could also be applied to two-cycle chainsaws and other small OPE - Taryl, it's only dangerous if you don't know what you are doing when you are working on it. Were the 1960s crank-start mower starters dangerous when they were wound up? You bet they were. No different than this starter unit IMO - stored energy in a wound-up spring. I started mowing as a kid with 1960s crank-start Briggs and Tecumseh engines, and for a 10-year-old kid, it made it really easy to start the mower - wind it up, go back to behind the handle, and pull the control lever and away you went. I especially liked the implementation on the Tecumsehs on Toro Whirlwinds, as they used a single control lever for both the throttle and the spring-starter engagement - you pushed the throttle control to choke and it would release the starter simultaneously. And my Toros would almost always start the first time. Fully-adjustable carburetors on those too (the good-ol' days) with mixture control needles on both the low-speed and high-speed fuel circuits. You could reach under the bowl and adjust the high-speed mixture with your fingers - I would richen it up a bit in the cold spring mows when the air was denser (more O2 to the engine), and then readjust later in the season when it got warmer.

We used to have these on the SEARS HARDWARE sales floor back in the day (early 2000's)

As a kid in the 60's I remember the crank windups and a neighbor got hurt when he started messing around with the blade after it had already been cranked. Machines can be great until you add humans to the mix.

It's actually pretty cool. Plus a back up pull cord. Very unique at the very least. I'm 64 and never seen one.

I like it. I wonder why the concept never became popular. When you get old or have a bad arm/shoulder you would appreciate something like this.

When I went to Williamson Trade School back in the 70's, we had a diesel generator that had a hydraulic starter. The starter was a spring return hydraulic cylinder that would send a surge of hydraulic oil through the hydraulic starter motor. The spring was compressed by hydraulic pressure from the diesel running. When restarting you had one shot, or you had to jack a pump handle back and forth in order to pump back up the hydraulic pressure. This was on a Detroit diesel V8. What a workout.

I got a troybilt like this a few years ago... I had a hard time figuring out how to use it, and it's been sitting in a shed for a few years. Always thought it was battery powered right up until now lol.

I had and fix the old crank up motors they were nice.

What they should design is a mower that you pull the whole mower backwards a few feet to wind up a spring, than you release the wound up spring ti spin over the engine! Thank you!

Great idea. Start your mower without a battery.

Good tech. Clever. Good for older folk who may have shoulder issues. But there ARE caveats as you have explained. At least Briggs didn't make them so that they could be disassembled. THAT would be a disaster, although it would make a lot of lawyers smile. I would own one. I don't think that they sold in Australia though, I would have to research that. Whoever is trying to sell a replacement starter for anything over $200 has to be dreaming.

For the price they want for a replacement part, might as well stick with the pull rope when the starter goes bad

I had this feature on a Troy-built Machine It was excellent, especially if you Had to stop and go collecting grass clippings. Mower tended to start on first try Unless it sat for a month. for a month . It was difficult to restart on failure, due to extra pulling effort Recharging coil spring . Thanks for all your programs , very educational!! M

It is clever. The capturing and re-using of otherwise wasted energy is always worth a try. In this odd case the concept works well. Bravo Briggs old guys on this one.

Seems like a good idea, provided that the end user takes the appropriate precautions with the mower. This self-winding mechanical starter could also work in other applications as well, like long-term storage emergency generators, etc.

Close to 40 years ago, I had a Western Auto mower that you started by winding up a spring. The whole deal replaced the rewind rope and handle. It sat on top of the engine, after winding you would flip the handle down to release the spring tension and start it. That process was way more work than just pulling a rope.😮

Reading the comments, i think taryl is badly mistaken on this. I, too, think, as most others in the comments, that this is a pretty awesome idea. At what point do you have to stop protecting people from themselves? If a person isn't careful while baking up with a push mower, they could possibly trip and cut their foot off. Should we outlaw pushmowers all together then? Maybe if a person doesn't know what they're doing, they shouldn't be operating equipment at all.

I think that was awesome! A marvel of modern engineering! I like to live dangerously!😃

New version of the old "windup" starter from the sixties.

Wow now that’s an interesting piece that I’ve never seen before…👍👍