INERT DEACTIVATED. British. Two Tinplate Tins (Of 20 Cartridges) Of Coffman, ICI Electric Engine Starter No.1, Mark 2 Cartridges. Total 25 Cartridges And Safety Caps. - O 1645 INERT DEACTIVATED. British. Two Tinplate Tins (Of 20 Cartridges) Of Coffman, ICI Electric Engine Starter No.1, Mark 2 Cartridges. Total 25 Cartridges And Safety Caps. - O 1645 Other Ammunition

INERT DEACTIVATED. There are two soldered tinplate tins of Coffman electric engine starter cartridges. Coffman cartridges were used to start aircraft piston engines without swinging the propeller or using an electric starter motor so were useful is starting aircraft engines anywhere. The Coffman starter uses a specially made 4 gauge paper shell filled with cordite pellets with an electric primer. The cartridge fires into a starter assembly on the accessory case of the engine, same position as an electric starter. The cartridge does not fire directly into a cylinder of the engine, the gasses force a piston inside the starter assembly forward towards the engine collapsing spiral gears on top of each other converting it into a circular motion. This engages the starter dog and rotates the starter gear. After the piston reaches the end of its travel a valve released the residual pressure and a die spring resets the whole process. One tin is complete with 20 cartridges and steel safety caps and its internal tinplate compartments and the tinplate internal cover. The other tin contains 5 cartridges and safety caps with its internal compartments but is missing its internal tinplate cover. The two tins have a cream printed label on the lid stating the contents and filled by ICI on the 2nd July 1965 and contains 4 bore paper cartridges with a brass head and an electric primer. The cartridges are not headstamped but the brown paper cartridge case is stencilled in black E I.C.I. No.1 MARK 3 20 GRMS. Each cartridge has a belled pressed steel safety cap which had to be removed so that the cartridge could be inserted into the starter chamber. The cartridges originally had an opaque plastic top wad to the top of the cartridges which are now separate. This is the type of starter cartridge that would have been used on De Havilland aircraft similar to the Chipmunk. The price includes U.K. delivery and no licence is required to possess this inert cartridges in the UK if retained as part of a collection or display. O 1645