PURPOSE: To prevent wear and damage of gears, by making engagement of a pinion gear and a ring gear quiet and smooth through provision of an electric circuit for making the speed of rotation of a starter motor before engagement of said two gears different from that after engagement of the gears.

CONSTITUTION: An engine starting apparatus of this invention comprises a pinion gear 3 for transmitting the power of a starter motor 6 and a ring gear 12 formed integrally with a crankshaft 11. At the time of starting an engine, the pinion gear 3 is brought into mesh with the ring gear 12 at a low speed by pushing a switch 16 and supplying a small current I1 restricted by a resistance 18 to the starter motor 6. Here, since, after engagement of the two gears, a limit switch 10 is turned ON and a large current I2 is passed to a second feeder line 21, the speed of rotation of the starter motor 6 is raised and the engine is started. With such an arrangement, it is enabled to render the engagement of the pinion gear and the ring gear quiet and smooth.