The primary reason the crank jumps back is because of the timing
settings. My Ambulance had a manual spark advance. Before starting
you retarded the advance with a lever on the steering wheel, cranked
the engine and then quickly advanced the spark to make the engine run
smoothly.
With most of the newer vehicles (mine was 1917) the starter handle was
an afterthought. Therefore there is no way to retard the timing and
then reset it easily after the engine fires.
The main reason for broken limbs is the placement of the thumb on the
handle. Most folks will grab the handle in a "natural" fashion with
the thumb around the the handle from one direction and the fingers in
the other. This of course gives you a firm grasp on the handle, but
it also means that it cannot jump out of your hand easily. The
correct method is to palm the handle with your thumb and fingers on
the same side, so that when the hand jumps it can clear your hand
easily, no thumb to catch on.
There have been a few times when I forgot to retard the spark and had
the handle jump out of my hand. It can be quite exciting.
Fortunately, I had always used the correct method for gripping the
handle and have never broken any limbs.
==
Joe Baker
Major, Cavalry
Formerly of the
1st Squadron, 2d Armored Cavalry Regiment (Germany)
and the 418th Med Co (AMB) RVN
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