Welcome, Merman, and good morning all.
Direct-on-line starters are definitely available for single phase, not just for three phase devices. I have one on my lathe and another on my small drilling machine.
The type I have are 'Memdol' brand, made by the Midland Electrical Manufacturing company, hence the 'MEM' part of the brand-name. The 'dol' part, of course, signifies 'direct on line'. The particular versions I have also include a no-volt-release function. They have a toggle actuator rather than the green and red start and stop buttons often used on industrial switch gear. However, I believe that later versions of the Memdol starters are available with such buttons. They have overload tripping heater coils, just like the three-phase versions, available for various motor load currents.
Having written all that, I am unsure without checking whether MEM are still trading or whether 'my' versions of the device are still available.
If you desire the motor to be reversible, that would require the addition, in-circuit, of a separate reversing switch, the Memdol doesn't include that function.
