The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Here is something I recently acquired, a Shelton Simplicity Motor that turns a turntable. Pretty cool, and in 1918, it cost $25!

Here are the instructions.

If I saw that in the wild, I'd probably pass it by after giving it a quick look.

That being said...
https://goo.gl/images/XzDgLX

James.

using this would end up unhooking the spring- a surprise to a future owner

I have taken apart hundreds of phonograph motors and the first thing I do is to make sure the springs are completely unwound. Most of the time, I am able to unwind the springs until the crank handle starts to spin. The center coil of the springs tend to be wrapped around the arbor so tightly that instead of coming loose from the arbor, they simply turn the arbor in the direction of the unwinding. There have been a tiny number of cases where the springs became detached, but those springs were invariably either damaged or very weak and not securely coiled around the arbor. Those springs were replaced. Other instances where the spring can become detached is when there is no spring barrel like some of the early Columbia and Edison Gem motors.

Cliff