Is this the correct graphite?

[hearsedriver]

Im trying to find a good graphite to mix with petroleum jelly for a mainspring grease. is this the proper graphite?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Natural-Graphit ... SwBahVPl8E

[NEFaurora]

You can use a 1 to 1 ratio of each on the old stuff...of the ancient Edison fornula but most people don't use the old Graphite formula as the Brown Castrol GTX Bearing Grease in a tub works much better..looks great too and is less mess. Just a suggestion.. but you can use either.. Don't let the "Lithium" name fool you...The Grease is not White....It is a lovely Medium Brown color.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Castrol-12715-M ... lR&vxp=mtr

)

Tony K.

Edison Collector/Restorer

[EarlH]

If you have a John Deere dealership near you, planter box graphite is MUCH cheaper and that's what I've always used. I think the last bottle I bought was $8.50 and it must have been a quart or a little more.

[Chuck]

I just get whatever graphite is available.
Walmart has it in their automotive dept. in small
tubes for putting in car door locks and ignition key
holes.

It's also to be found at about any hardware store.

Get some of that, and some vaseline and put the graphite
in the vaseline and stir it up real good.

Use enough graphite until it gets good and black.
Use a popsicle stick to get it in the hole in
the spring barrel and then push it in there.

I have been regularly putting that into my Edison
Standard Model D combination 2/4 machine now for
the past 50 years, and it works just fine. Yes, 50 years no lie, I got the machine in 1967.

[hearsedriver]

There is a video on Youtube of a guy mixing the Edison formula and he says the door lock graphite will not mix well with vaseline. He shows an example. It didnt even turn the vaseline black. Some of the door lock graphite might work but others may not.

[MicaMonster]

I use #2 flake graphite mixed with petroleum jelly. The graphite itself sticks to the metal springs and glides better. After 20 full winds, any other type of grease gets turned into a thin film.... and then the thumping returns. 200 weight axle oil works well, as I believe this was the suggested lube for diamond disc springs. Tenacious as all get out.

[Curt A]

I have wondered about this for years:

This is not meant to be critical, but why would you want to re-create the old formula that ends up hardening in the spring barrels? After 100 years we have much better lubrication technology available.... why not use it?

You certainly wouldn't use the same stuff they used to grease wagon axles in the 1800s on your car.... Just wondering what the actual issues or reasons are for wanting to use petroleum jelly for anything other than a rectal thermometer (and even for that there are better options)... Is there some sort of sentimentality or originality concern about the type of grease used on phonographs?

Since petroleum jelly is actually a soft paraffin wax, it is obvious that over time this mixture of wax and graphite will harden, just as we all have discovered when working with noisy springs.

What Is Petroleum Jelly?

Petroleum jelly, commonly known by the most popular brandname Vaseline, is a derivative of oil refining. Originally found coating the bottom of oil rigs in the mid-1800s, it’s a byproduct of the oil industry and therefore an unsustainable resource (read: not eco-friendly). It’s commonly used topically to cure everything from dehydrated, flakey skin to diaper rash. Though generally regarded as safe, the components that are removed from the oil during the refining process of petroleum jelly are carcinogenic in some cases.

Petroleum jelly, petrolatum, white petrolatum, soft paraffin/paraffin wax or multi-hydrocarbon, CAS number 8009-03-8, is a semi-solid mixture of hydrocarbons (with carbon numbers mainly higher than 25), originally promoted as a topical ointment for its healing properties.

The raw material for petroleum jelly was discovered in 1859 in Titusville, Pennsylvania, United States, on some of the country's first oil rigs. Workers disliked the paraffin-like material forming on rigs because it caused them to malfunction, but they used it on cuts and burns because they believed it hastened healing.

Robert Chesebrough, a young chemist whose previous work of distilling fuel from the oil of sperm whales had been rendered obsolete by petroleum, went to Titusville to see what new materials had commercial potential. Chesebrough took the unrefined black "rod wax", as the drillers called it, back to his laboratory to refine it and explore potential uses. Chesebrough discovered that by distilling the lighter, thinner oil products from the rod wax, he could create a light-colored gel. Chesebrough patented the process of making petroleum jelly by U.S. Patent 127,568 in 1872. The process involved vacuum distillation of the crude material followed by filtration of the still residue through bone char.

Chesebrough traveled around New York demonstrating the product to encourage sales by burning his skin with acid or an open flame, then spreading the ointment on his injuries and showing his past injuries healed, he claimed, by his miracle product.

He opened his first factory in 1870 in Brooklyn using the name Vaseline.

[OrthoFan]

I used to get graphite grease from the Antique Phonograph Supply Company. I see they still offer it:

http://www.antiquephono.com/motoroil.htm

Don't know what the opinions are about it.

Curt, I wanted to add that your post is very informative. I remember, going back some 30 years, an old time collector told me that the reason the original grease gunked up and hardened was because it sat for years or even decades "unmixed". He said that if the motor was wound daily, the grease would be as fresh as ever. I don't know how true that is, but he pointed to his VV-XI, which he claimed he had greased about 25 years earlier.

In more recent years, I switched to modern lubricants. They do a very good job.


OrthoFan

[Henry]

I've recommended A+D Ointment to replace Vaseline. While I've not used it for phonograph spring motor springs, I have used it in a variety of other applications. It will not dry out and stick! For years I lubricated the tuning slide of my brass instruments with A+D; it lasts a long time, and without gumming or sticking. I'm sure that it could be used for springs as a direct replacement for the vaseline, if you're going to try to replicate the old formula vaseline + graphite. A+D Ointment is available OTC at drug stores.

[hearsedriver]

Ive been using modern lubricants in both my Victors and Edisons but would like to compare the performance to the original formula. The graphite/vaseline mixture seems to stick better the the gears.I'd like to try the old formula for the historical perspective too. The graphite that I linked too on Ebay seems to be a really fine grade that might mix well with vaseline. #2 flake is very expensive for some reason.
Isnt the old Victor formula 1:1 ? Edison is 1:10 ? Anyone know for sure?