The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Took apart an Edison Fireside to see why the spring wasn't working and discovered it had broken into 5 pieces. I've seen 3 pieces before but this is my first fiver. Can't quite conceive of how this might have happened...

Cliff

Somebody probably tried to wind after it broke and an already broken piece got caught in the winding action only to break further. Sort of like a coffee grinder.

Back in the mid-1980s I restored a Fireside for our local Historical Society, and found the mainspring to be broken into over a dozen pieces. By that time I had removed & replaced a good number of mainsprings, but never had to deal with 5-6 inch jagged shards bent under pressure inside a spring barrel. I felt like I was holding a grenade. I wore heavy leather work gloves and grasping the barrel in my left hand (pointed into a garbage can), I pried the shards with a LONG shanked screwdriver. Many of them shot out like mortar rounds into that garbage can. Sometimes my blind coaxing wouldn't move anything, but I feared turning the barrel toward me to check. The worst spring removal I ever encountered.

Later on I stumbled across a written account mentioning brittle Edison mainsprings during a brief period. I just checked my index of The Edison Phonograph Monthly but didn't find it there. At any rate, those darn brittle mainsprings are a challenge. Thankfully, I haven't encountered another!

George P.

Since we are sharing war stories:

I once was given an Edison Diamond Disc single-spring motor to work on. The machine only worked when you cranked the crank, almost as if there was a 1:1 gear drive in place to operate the machine.

After dis-assembly, I held the spring barrel in my hot little hand. My mind wandered a bit. Then, I became a little disturbed. The spring was FULLY WOUND, and GLUED into that position by petrified lubricant! Now that my heart was firmly lodged in my throat, I carefully crept to the oven, turned the temp to 220*F, and put the spring barrel into a cast iron pot and let it warm up.

20 minutes later. NOTHING

30 minutes later. NOTHING

35 minutes later......."wwwRRRRRRRRRR............BANG!"

The spring released its tension, and when I took the lid off the iron pot, it was still spinning like a top!

And THAT, is my spring-story.

A member at the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society who does a lot of the repair work for our members recently brought in
a spring that had broken into many pieces. It looked as though it had shattered.
He said it was due to a dried out motor being left outdoors in the winter.

Perhaps this is what happened to yours?

These are more reasons that I will pursue doing my own "spring cleaning" with caution! I'm happy that the experienced members share their horror stories, thank you all!

Fran

Mr Grumpy wrote:A member at the Canadian Antique Phonograph Society who does a lot of the repair work for our members recently brought in
a spring that had broken into many pieces. It looked as though it had shattered.
He said it was due to a dried out motor being left outdoors in the winter.

Perhaps this is what happened to yours?

That is possible. The cabinet is weathered. Probably sat in an unheated garage for several decades.

Andersun wrote:Somebody probably tried to wind after it broke and an already broken piece got caught in the winding action only to break further. Sort of like a coffee grinder.

Also a possibility.

Cliff

A new spring made all the difference.


http://youtu.be/LtqbYcTQFkM

Cliff

IT WORKS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIKnSl71e7w

Cliff