Graphophone Type A Exposed Spring Removal

[Oceangoer1]

I purchased the Type A Graphophone in this thread.

http://forum.talkingmachine.info/viewto ... ld#p181434

I have come to the conclusion that the larger, dark spring on the right is too big for the case. It is tearing up the bottom board. The light colored spring on the left fits better in the case, even when completely unwound and it doesn't touch the bottom. If all this is correct, I want to remove the dark spring to see how it runs. I notice there are two arbors. One connected to the innermost coil of the spring, and then one to hold the hook on the outermost coil.

Has anyone ever done this? These aren't very large springs, but I am not sure how much power is still left in them even when it is completely unwound, like it is now. I'm trying to avoid taking all the other gears off and hurting myself!

-Connor

[Oceangoer1]

I put the whole machine in a plastic tub in case anything goes flying. I began to spin the governor to see if the springs wound down anymore and they sure did!! Both of them are now way to big to fit in the cabinet, but the machine stopped spinning while they were wound tighter.

[Oceangoer1]

Well! I lived! I got the bigger spring out and it's running well. The humidity screwed up the friction on the leather belt, so I'll have to wait till it dries off to see how well it works.

The motor ran for a good two minutes and the spring still remained small and fits inside the cabinet, so I'm hoping it can stay like this.

I ended up sliding the top arbor out of place, kind of releasing the ends of both springs, then while they were stuck against the plastic tub after unwinding a bit, I slid the arbor back into the first spring. I continued to unwind the other spring and eventually it released itself from the lower arbor as well.

[JerryVan]

Connor,

The dark spring is a new one. That's why it's so much bigger when unwound. The golden colored one is an original spring and probably much weaker, due to age. That's why it's smaller when unwound. Really, in 2 spring motors, both springs should be replaced at the same time, to provide good balance between the 2. If the new spring hits the cabinet then just don't let it wind down that far.

BTW, nice undies. I use Hanes myself.

[JerryVan]

Thinking about it, if both springs were of the same strength, the motor would run a lot longer before the spring/s would get too big for the cabinet. As it is now, I'm sure that the stronger spring provides most of the power and winds down first, (getting too big in the process), before the weaker spring has a chance to begin to unwind. However, if at that point, both springs were of the same strength, they would balance out and both be only half as big as the one spring is now. Confusing!

[Oceangoer1]

Thinking about it, if both springs were of the same strength, the motor would run a lot longer before the spring/s would get too big for the cabinet. As it is now, I'm sure that the stronger spring provides most of the power and winds down first, (getting too big in the process), before the weaker spring has a chance to begin to unwind. However, if at that point, both springs were of the same strength, they would balance out and both be only half as big as the one spring is now. Confusing!

It is quite confusing. I feel like this serial number might be a little early to have two springs, even taking into consideration that its the second run of this model. It's number 66405. I wasn't sure how much tension this motor can hold, but I felt like I would have to wind so much and keep a ton of tension on it to avoid the second spring unwinding all the way to the bottom of the cabinet. (assuming that first spring gets wound first and/or winds down first).

I saw a couple motors from the earlier Washington Type A's and I modeled my spring choice after those, which had a single, lighter spring on the left side of the arbor.

-Connor

[phonogfp]

The few Type As I've seen with double mainsprings have been earlier examples - possibly all Washington versions.

Admittedly it would be a relatively simple matter to add a mainspring to a Type A that was originally built with only one.

George P.

[Phonofreak]

I have a Washington Model A, and it has a single exposed spring.
Harvey Kravitz

[phonogfp]

I too have a single-mainspring Washington A. I should have written "Possibly all the double-spring versions I've see have been Washington versions." Sorry for the miscommunication.

George P.