The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I'm pretty new to phonograph collecting and just picked up my first portable, a Brunswick Parisian. I have no experience with these and was hoping to get some technical help.

The motor on this one seems to be fairly clean, if lacking grease and oil (I've done some oiling), but it won't run properly. I don't think it's the spring - it seems to wind up to full tension and there's no obvious "clunking" or anything to suggest a broken spring. But the speed is very erratic; it sort of "gallops" and there's a noticeable rattle that is most pronounced when the speed suddenly lowers. It also won't play a record, even at variable speed, as it bogs down and stops as soon as you set the needle down. I've posted a couple of brief videos:

Video showing the phonograph operating: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vpDg7FeRQA
Video of the motor during operation (note I was holding the machine vertically for this): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_jX6Wd-u-s

In the second video note that the worm gear shaft (on which the governor is mounted) seems to be "jumping" lengthwise a bit. Is it possible that excessive play in the bearings is causing binding in the worm gear? Or am I likely misdiagnosing this? Any advice would be appreciated.

Congrats on your new find. Your spindle drive gear appears to be worn or damaged. It may also be the governor shaft worm gear that is damaged.

You will need to disassemble the motor and check. Just make sure the spring is completely wound down first.

Ron Sitko may sell replacements...??.

https://youtu.be/-vpDg7FeRQA
https://youtu.be/e_jX6Wd-u-s

The whole governor seems to be jumping in and out of place. Isn't there supposed to be a pivot on the one end that keeps it in place? You can see the end of it jumping up and down on the other side of the motor plate.

Too much end play on the governor from where I'm sitting. I've found that you need just the slightest end play- barely perceptible- to make spring motors run steady. NO end play will slow it down too.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I was able to insert a paper shim to reduce end-play in the governor shaft; I tried thicker shims but anything thicker bound it up so I'm pretty confident that I've eliminated as much end-play as I can do easily. But this doesn't seem to have helped much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7__ejm5X59E

So, on to my next crazy theory. The intermittent binding (and rattle) starts as soon as the motor gets up to speed. The video above shows the governor and attempts to show the speed control. There is a disc on the governor shaft (to the right of the governor in the video) and a felt pad is pressed against that disc by an adjustable lever. The disc only intermittently contacts the felt pad when it gets up to speed; it seems to sort-of bounce off the felt pad. My question is, is it at all possible that the speed control pad might be causing the governor shaft to intermittently slow down? This seems unlikely but I don't have much experience with this stuff. Should I be trying to replace the felt, or oil the disc, or something else?

You should ensure that the governor weights are running true, and also make sure that there is no warping of the friction disc.

Putting a drop of light oil (like sewing machine oil) on the governor pad will usually smooth things out. It softens it up, and lubricates the spinning wheel part to keep the friction constant and low.

I have that same machine as the Polly Portable. My machine needed a new mainspring, I sent my mainspring barrel out to George Vollema, he installed a new mainspring and lube. According to George, these machines used a odd width, and he sold me his last one (N.O.S.). After installing the mainspring barrel back into the motor, it took me a while to get everything set up. I ended up having to add a washer to one of the motor bolts otherwise the motor would bind. The motor runs smooth and quiet now.

These are quirky motors, you have to have just enough play in the governor to keep it from binding. Make sure that the shaft is not too tight in the frame. The governor pins, governor pads / disc should be oiled, also oil the bottom of the turntable shaft.

If you need a mainspring you can check with George Vollema or try Ron Sitko.

NOTE: Make sure you have completely wound down the motor before making adjustments or disassembly, otherwise you can have parts flying around and it can cause injury, and damage to the gears.

Thanks for all of the help. I've tried everything I can think of to adjust the governor but can't get it to run smoothly. I'm a little concerned that the governor "friction disc" is slightly skewed but if so it's barely detectable and I can't think of any way I could fix it. I'll be at Union in a few weeks... at this point my best bet might be to see if I can purchase a replacement governor shaft on the off chance that helps.

OK, based on video 3, my theory is that your governor weights are making very light contact with some piece of surrounding metal. I notice that the noise begins once the springs have flexed out a bit and stops when the springs contract. You might try manually rotating the governor with the springs flexed to see if this is the case.