The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

Hi All,
My posting in the Yankee Trader for a crank for the above machine brought an offer of help from one of our members who has a large number of cranks (sounds like a pretty cranky deal if ya ask me...) but we need all of the possible suspects, like length and thread size.

Any help[ out there to help solve our puzzle?
Abe

You could most likely supply most of the critical dimensions yourself.
- What is the diameter of the hole in the crank bushing?
- Will the crank have a male or female thread?
- What is the distance from the outside of the cabinet/crank bushing to the end of the motor winding shaft? (Slide a wooden dowel, or similar, into the crank bushing hole until it contacts the motor winding shaft. Use this as you depth gauge, then measure how far thw dowel went in.)
- If the motor winding shaft is a male thread, what is the outside diameter of the thread?

Hi Jerry,
I do not own the machine its for sale but is a 120 mile round trip from me. Normally not that big of a deal but the seller is not often where the machine is so I am looking at a kind of a moving target. If it was Victor, Edison or Columbia I would not think hard about it-but Sonora parts do not seam to fall from the trees.

Thx for the help, I have copied it it might come in handy in the future.
Abe

I see... Yes, that adds a level of complexity.

need4art wrote: Fri Nov 07, 2025 4:39 pm Hi All,
My posting in the Yankee Trader for a crank for the above machine brought an offer of help from one of our members who has a large number of cranks (sounds like a pretty cranky deal if ya ask me...) but we need all of the possible suspects, like length and thread size.

Any help[ out there to help solve our puzzle?
Abe

I own a 1916 Sonora elite. Here is the crank.

Hey audiophile 102 Thx for the help and picture!
Abe

Hi Audiophile,
Well the member that is helping to find the crank (who has 150 of them) would like crank OD and stem thread (how the heck do you figure that out)
Anyone jump in here to help
Thx Abe

I used my gauge and here are the results. The bolt in the image doesn't have the right thread, but fits in the female crank end. Hope it helps.

It appears that the thread could be any one of the following: ¼-20, ¼-24, ¼-28. (And, just maybe, 14-24, which is not the same as ¼-24... but close)

I have a spare crank that matches the given dimensions.
4" to the bend, ½" rod with ¼" female threads.
PM sent.

Regards,

Bill Meyer
East Syracuse, N.Y.
http://ascobill.wixsite.com/edisonphono