So, just what is a "Capacitator"

One of the many "features" of living in a rural area is the water well, complete with water pump. Our water well happens to be shared among four houses. A couple days ago, the pump in our water well quit working. We eventually had to replace the pump, however, before that, a component in the starter circuit "fried". One of my neighbors replaced the component. However, it was another neighbor, an elderly gentleman, who told me which component was replaced. He said it was the "capacitator". Now, I am familiar with capacitors, but this is the first I have heard of a "capacitator". I tried to find one on the internet, but the search was fruitless. So, I had this mental picture of what a "capacitator" might look like and proceeded to create this image in a much more shareable format.

As you can see, I included capacitors on the right, and added what I suspect is a "capacitator" on the left.  Now, I wonder what the electrical symbol for such a device looks like.