Recoil start refers to a method of starting an internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engine

The internal combustion engine is an engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. In an internal combustion engine, the expansion of the high-temperature and high -pressure gases produced by combustion apply direct force to some component of the engine...

, usually to that of small machines, such as lawn mower

Lawn mower

A lawn mower is a machine that uses a revolving blade or blades to cut a lawn at an even length.Lawn mowers employing a blade that rotates about a vertical axis are known as rotary mowers, while those employing a blade assembly that rotates about a horizontal axis are known as cylinder or reel...

s, chainsaw

Chainsaw

A chainsaw is a portable mechanical saw, powered by electricity, compressed air, hydraulic power, or most commonly a two-stroke engine...

s, ultralight aircraft and portable engine-generator

Engine-generator

An engine-generator is the combination of an electrical generator and an engine mounted together to form a single piece of equipment. This combination is also called an engine-generator set or a gen-set...

s. As seen today, many of these are used on these machines. However, some of the machines are seen with electric starters in some countries. They are also used on some small vehicles such as small go-kart

Go-kart

thumb|A [[Kart racing|racing kart]] at the [[Commission Internationale de Karting|CIK-FIA]] European Championship 2008A go-kart is a small four-wheeled vehicle...

s, Mini bikes, and small ATVs

All-terrain vehicle

An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...

.

The starter consists of a rope with a grip at the end, coiled around an end of the crankshaft

Crankshaft

The crankshaft, sometimes casually abbreviated to crank, is the part of an engine which translates reciprocating linear piston motion into rotation...

. When the rope's grip is pulled, the rope uncoils around the end of the crankshaft, spinning it to crank the engine. After the rope is pulled, the flywheel keeps spinning and the engine starts. If the grip is not returned gently, it can damage the starter by the rope getting tangled in the mechanism.