The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I am working on a Columbia BF that has been in the owner's family since new. I have a BF with what I call "normal" Columbia mainsprings. This one is bent on both ends and sticks out through the spring barrel. The inner coil is bent too and has an arbor with a slit in it. What an easy motor to put back together, no reshaping of the inner coils!

Attached is a photo. How common is this on Columbia motors? I have seen plenty of them, but never saw this before.
Dave D

Dave D wrote:I am working on a Columbia BF that has been in the owner's family since new. I have a BF with what I call "normal" Columbia mainsprings. This one is bent on both ends and sticks out through the spring barrel. The inner coil is bent too and has an arbor with a slit in it. What an easy motor to put back together, no reshaping of the inner coils!

Attached is a photo. How common is this on Columbia motors? I have seen plenty of them, but never saw this before.
Dave D

I have never seen that before either. I have heard of people in the past welding springs to the barrels.

This is a legitimate Columbia spring set up.... a bent end spring that protrudes through a slot in the barrel. A while back there was a forum member looking for some of those barrels. He helped educate me on their existence. Perhaps he'll see this post and chime in. I don't recall who it was.

Brad Abell

I never doubted that it left the factory that way. If only one spring barrel looked like that I would have suspected it was repair, but since all four were that way, I figured it was legit.
I wonder why they quit doing this?
Dave