The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hello all,

I'm new to the forum and the hobby of collecting phonographs. After working at the Thomas Edison NHP, I've decided to buy a phonograph.

Last sunday I brought a 1919 Sonora Trovatore phonograph at an estate sale. It worked at the sale, and when I got it home it worked for two days. Then the crank got stiff and won't turn the motor over. After doing some preliminary research I think either the crank/motor needs new grease or a new main spring is needed. Since I am new to all of this I was wondering what anyone else thinks.

Thank you very much.

-Edison_Ranger

It's not always that the mainspring needs replacement/tampering. A friend of mine had a Victor 7-30 that wouldn't crank or run. I pulled the motor out and a screw was missing from the governor spring, causing it to lash out and conflict with the motor mount, jamming the motor. It may not be the same as that scenario, but the fixes like yours are just stuff that needs to be fooled with.

Get the motor out and examine it carefully. Is anything jamming the free action of the parts?

Be very careful about disassembly: make sure the motor is completely wound down first.

As a reference, I would recommend Eric Reiss' Compleat Talking Machine: it is the "bible" for the amateur restorer.

Bill

E.R.,

Regardless of what the crank is doing, does the motor run? Can you play a record, or is it totally wound down?

Jerry,

You raise a good point. When playing, I always let the motor unwind. It is totally wound down. When the crank first seized up, interestingly I put some pressure on the crank but not turn it, the motor would run and the turntable would spin, not enough to play music though. But now it seems it no longer does that. The crank doesn't move other than backwards and the turntable doesn't spin other than when you push it with your hand. I hope this is clear.

It sounds like the governor assembly jamming, possibly it's out of mesh with the turntable spindle cog? That would explain the turntable only revolving when pushed, but not the crank seizing up. That's usually due to a missing washer under the spring case, which has the effect of making the winding cog on the spring sit too low and therefore out of mesh with the winding gear, causing the crank to jam.