The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I've just replaced a spring and the old broken one was in 10 pieces ! What could cause such failure ? Anyone seen this and know why it happens and how to avoid ?

Must have been made from the same steel as the Titanic!

The only thing I can think of is that the gramophone might have been stored at some time in an unheated shed or attic and the motor was subjected to temperature extremes--freezing cold and heat.

OrthoFan

It's not the first time I've seen a spring in multiple pieces. It does seem strange, but maybe through hot/cold cycles (as others have said) and age, the metallurgy was such that the shock of the spring breaking caused it to shatter in other places as well. Just a vague theory!

This kind of sulti-section cracking may also be caused by old grease stress. Winding-unwinding multiple times with old grease makes the spring catch against the neighboring winding at the same sections of the spring and that leads to fatigue.

We had a spring with similar damage, but much smaller pieces and close to the arbor. Our spring came from a Meisselbach motor out of a Modernola. The machine came from Phoenix area in Arizona, but there was also some water damage to the lower portion of the cabinet and legs.
This could certainly indicated damage from possible extreme temperature changes. The dried grease theory is very likely a contributor as well. Over-winding maybe?

The only other thought we had was it may be an Italian spring- "Fra-GI-le" :lol

It may be the result of poor steel or improper tempering. During WWI and WWII steel was in short supply, so it may be an inferior product...

The spring breaks while fully wound and flies out against the walls of the barrel with such force that the spring shatters.