I told my wife this morning "guess what day it is ? " and she said " I know I know , its bucktooth Sunday " I about fell out of my chair ! Thank you for the great videos .

As an old guy of 77 years I can tell you the late 40's, 50's and 60's were "Prime Time" for weird accessories and inventions for anything mechanical. Take a look at an old Mechanix Illustrated or Popular Mechanics magazine of the period for examples.

Back in the late 60s my dad bought a Wheel Horse lawn tractor. It was a pull start and was a real beast to get started. He mounted a big electric motor to the wall in the garage and when it was time to mow the grass we would push the mower up to the electric motor, place a V belt on the electric motor pulley and the other on the mower engine pulley, plug in the electric motor, push back on the mower to tighten the belt which would crank over the engine getting it started.

You should restore an old '60s mower and install that thing on it to take to shows, etc. Then you could "fire it up, fire it up, fire it up!"

Taryl looking into the camera "This is really odd." lol

It was a Great invention for senior folks that had a hard time starting their mowers.

That spring loaded offset pin most likely also activates a switch within the unit itself. As you push the plug onto the two main pins, you're connecting to the power supply. Then, as you reach the end of travel, the third pin makes the ground connection and simultaneously pushes down onto a concealed switch. From the appearance of the stator, it looks like you have a main (running) set of windings, plus, what looks like a shunt (starter) winding which appears to be around 90° displaced from the main. There could be a motor starting capacitor inside that bulky aluminium casing. This could explain the three wire/split phase arrangement - That would provide the 90° phase shift needed to set up a rotating field, which in turn is needed to induce the eddy current within the rotor, which causes the rotor to spin. It's basically a repurposed washing machine motor in disguise! A very item indeed, I should think. I've been around for sixty five years, hanging around my dad back in the day when he worked on garden/horticultural machines, and I can safely say I've never seen anything remotely like this. Certainly seen a few mowers (Mostly with B&S engines) with the recoil removed and started with an electric drill. Probably not much intrinsic value, but what a wonderful thing to find - A true collector's item.

I never knew this existed. I am sure being under the mower deck this would get clogged with grass and eventually get destroyed.

I love the picture of the lady on the box with a smile on her face. "Honey, look what I bought you for your birthday." 🤣

You know, that plug pattern looks like an old appliance plug socket, for like a waffle iron or something. Wonder if an old GE kitchen appliance cord would work?

Pretty cool video, never saw anything like it. Great invention , thanks for sharing Taryl.

Oh I've known about these since I was a kid- born in 65! My grandpa put em on all his small engine's!

Had one , it would not crank by itself,but it helped crank the mower.made it crank much easier..old stuff brings back fond memories when times were simple and life was good.

That’s great it’s found a home with somebody who can really appreciate it. Thanks for taking us along that starter kit probably cost as much as the mower.

Next video needs to be Taryl installing this on a mower

Thanks for this video! I love seeing that old stuff! My Dad had an old war wound that messed up his shoulder, so he adapted a spline fitting on the top of our old mower engine so he could put a drill motor on it for starting. I’m surprised we didn’t have one of these kits on our mower! I really enjoy your content, please keep it going! 😁

Wow, GE was the Bomb back in the day! What didn't they make! Thanks Taryl!

That thing’s from another time!

Wow! I remember my neighbor had one of these on an old mower. He cussed that thing every week. When he had a mower shop install that, he still cussed it. He broke the starter rope many times before he had that installed. Then, it still wouldn't start. Ha ha ha ha. One day my dad went over and freed up the choke that pulled out of the end of the carb and it would start instantly.

I wish we coulda seen it work. Is mysteries & oddities gonna become a new theme. It’s really cool

LOVE THESE ODD BALL VIDEOS TARYL, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK

Outstanding historical piece. "Finger tip starting..." Love it.

Wild & wacky vintage kit. Thanks for sharing this!👍✌

That is so cool thank you Taryl

This is the best channel ever! Between the skits, the repair videos, and now the mysteries/oddities, I find myself looking forward to the next post. A plethora of information! I have learned so much over the years of watching 👀 your videos. Hope to make it to Indiana someday and meet you guys! Take Care!

The engineers at GE used to have unlimited budgets to develop this sort of products. Automation was a fad and they cashed in on these things. The Chinese are doing the same nowadays.

I remember my dad, big Tecumseh fan, had this mower with a wind up spring you push a button and it spins the motor over. It worked good. Wish I had that mower now. Dont know what happened to it but I remember syphoning gas out of the car to fill the mower and with the spilled gas we set the mower on fire. Maybe that's what became of it? Durnit Taryl! (same vowel sound) I thought you were gonna put that on a mower and fire it up, fire it up, fire it up!

It's a 1960s electric starter kit from the 60s to start your chlorophyll stalk cutter! Watch out fluffy!

I think this was intended to entice the ladies to cut the lawn. No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine June Cleaver mowing the lawn!

Pretty cool thanks for sharing…👍👍

Great video taryl thanks for sharing

Curious product. Nice work, enjoyed.

My favorite part is the three plastic gap tools. There's not a lot of parts out there today that will give you the tool to make it go smoother. I love seeing you show us things from the past. I was living back then and absolutely do not remember seeing this on anybody's lawn mower or even in the store. As always looking forward to watching your next video. And I also make sure to hit the like button I'm most definitely a subscriber to your channel. I've been watching you for a lot of years. Not in a creepy stalker type of way. -)

Thank you for the FUN !

I absolutely love this 😊

That was awesome! I can see why it didn’t take off since it’s so complicated to install and it’s never going to fit every application, but what a cool little slice of hardware history. I love seeing weird stuff like this!

I love how excited Taryl gets over vintage rare parts 😂 These are always the best videos

You were right! Haven't seen this before! An oddity indeed. Take the spark plug out and it would prolly cut grass😂

Amazing technology for back Then! Brushless motors weren’t common at all! Awesome video!

Cool Beans!! Thanks for sharing!

Kool piece of small engine history. Thanks for sharing it.

That is cool and odd .I would love to see it in action 😊

That is pretty neat and odd. I hope this type of video keeps coming. There are a lot of odd and neat things from many fields that we don't see these days. Heck even now there are some odd and specialized things we probably look at and go yeah no to.

Very odd, very rare, very nice! Keep them coming!

I think if you examine that socket, you will find some numbers on it ... use those to find the matching plug.That "ground pin" might actually be a switch that engages when the socket is in place and fully seated.

I'm glad you mention you can make a plug up because I was watching this saying man it would be cool to see this on a 60s era mower

Old, rare and odd, what a combination. Sounds like some people I know. Cool video. I like seeing things like this from the past. Thanks for sharing.

You guys never disappoint!!!!! Hilarious, and ODD, and a MYSTERY, ...all rolled into one. Looks like that thing would pose a huge electrocution hazard, and what about when that motor gets stuffed with grass clippings, etc.? FIRE HAZARD!!! Thanks, Taryl!!

I all was 💕 watching your videos you always bring me up to date

Great video. I like the attention given to vintage equipment. I never knew about this GE product. I like the humor too.

This cool Tarly love watching your videos hello from Georgia

It's a miracle that fluffy The rat didn't get to it because of the age of the box 😮

Really cool!

That introduction to lawn mower mysteries and oddities was hilarious! 🤣

Excellent Taryl ! I know will Fabricate a Wire to get this to work I Really look forward to your content on Sunday Thank You

Since it needs AC power to work seems like it creates a bigger inconvenience than it solves. Nice novelty item though.

I wonder what a new version of this would look like ! Thanks for sharing ! The boss of the bosses Tera..... !!!

Cool segment

Very Cool Taryld!

That is pretty wild . Making up a switch /cord 👍👏shouldn’t be to hard

I had a self starter mower that had a spring on top, you flipped over the handle, wound it up, a strong spring, and slapped the handle down, it would turn the motor quickly, but usually not quick enough!

the 1960's crush nuts would stop most guys dead in their tracks of going to the next step! 🤣

That was odd, and mysterious!

I recall the starters where you mounted a cup on top of the flywheel and put a tapered rubber stopper in your electric drill to engage and spin it.

Pretty cool!!!

Awesome 👍👍

Is that an opening to a new addition to the shop behind the parts washer wall?

Threw about 6 of those away . No one was buying it . Number one most desired option back then was the crank handle modle wind it up and push the button and your motor would start.

I’ve seen a lot of mowers and related over the years. Never seen one a dem! Slick piece of small engine history. Painted exact same color as the good GE electric motors back in the later 50’s up through the 70’s.

Thank you

I do like the fact, that this works with no pinion gear or Bendix spring. you could run this for a while if needed, because there are no contacting parts to wear out. What I don't like, is that you can't change your oil, without removing this apparatus, then, having to re-align the air gaps, then finally re-install it, every time you need to change the oil. The only other option, is to tip the mower on its side, and drain the oil through the fill neck. (best done if the mower is low, or out of fuel) Something this convenient is only convenient, if it doesn't create an inconvenience! another thing I find with plug-in electric starting, is that it's less effort to pull the starter cord, than to drag an extension cord out, to start the mower. With the engine well tuned, it's faster just to pull the starter rope.

Omg my dad had one those!

Love it😎👍

VeryVery Cool!

If the motor was continous duty, with a long extension cord it would be a "plug-in hybrid" lol.

GE was ahead of their time , with a little for thought it could have been the first electric lawn mower

My father did small engine repair for many years, I never saw one that I can recall and I’m 61 years young. Saw a lot of other crazy mowers and still have a few around like the flymo you fixed a while back and tiny riding mowers with 4 and 5 horsepower engines!

That was a cool video Taryl

it's pretty cool. I would love to see you install it. it doesn't look like they give you much room. it's going to take up the hole shaft.

How long do you think that thing would last underneath a lawnmower before it filled up with dirt and grass clippings? Once? Twice? A month? How about the first time you had to cut your yard and the grass was a little damp?

Wow you never cease to amaze me keep up good work . I have a kit that has a rubber cone that chucks in an electric drill with aluminum cup that would bolt to crank much newer oddity than yours I'm sure you've seen it. Very cool such truth in all your statements

Back in the 80s I had a Crapsman self propelled mower with a Tecrapseh engine. It had electric start that I believe was from the factory. It had the 3 prongs for the cord sticking out of a panel on the handle and a push button to start it once you plugged it in. If I recall it had a more traditional bendix type starter. The electric start worked ok, the rest of the mower wasn't so great. The front drive wheels had gears in them that fell apart when the wheels got a little older and wobbly and the engine was always finicky. I let it sit for a few years once and decided to use it when my other mower needed a wheel and it fired right up when I put some gas in it. No ethanol back then:-).

You should reach out to the guys at American Pickers, they know a lot about rare things. And they loooove original packaging 😂

For a cord maybe a block heater cord with round end.

The old Briggs and Scrap/um and Tekumush engines started so easily it's strange that anyone would want a starter. With the gas of the good ole days, if you didn't store the mower outside in the rain, it would start in a couple pulls even after setting for a year!

Sounds about right. My mom had an attachment kit that went on her Kirby vacuum. It turned it into a bench grinder for sharpening scissors, knives and lawnmower blades.

Interesting 👍🏻

Love the 1990's mysteries intro

Hello Taryl. Thank you for your videos i really enjoy them. Taryl i just wanted to tell you that there is a fuel additive called "Phaser 3000". It is made by a very old american company around 100 years old. It is not so famous or popular like the rest of fuel additives but it looks like their product could potentially work fine for storage. Could you try it out the next time please?. Greetings from Colombia.

it's a shame they don't still do conversion kits like these....."Crapsman" just came out with a V20 battery electric start snow blower. I emailed "Crapsman" to see if they offered a conversion kit for the non-battery plug in electric start snow blowers to convert to battery electric start...and of course, they do not.

Good going, Taryl - I never had even heard of this oddity ! PS - Did you ever see the 120V starter for Lawnboys that sandwiched between the rope starter and the engine? The motor hung off to one side and a toothed belt and sprocket drove the starter dogs. That part also had the ratchet-pins on top so the OEM rope starter could still work if desired. About 1959. Used mostly on sno-blowers but would fit any C-series engine.

Love you, you crazy American dude!

A conundrum wrapped in a mystery! Yum!!

Thank s!

Wow that's pretty cool they made it so that it would go on the output shaft so would work on any motor that's cool

Amazing how tough stuff was built back in the day.

I did not expect it to go under the deck.

I like it!

Pretty interesting.

Would be cool to see you putting it on a mower lol... I learned that old mowers still had an oil drain plug wow !