Model 31 long reeds

[Roger Holmes]

Does anyone know specific to the model 31 if the keyboard activated long reeds are all the same? - in my older parts book which does not include the 31 it looks like each of them has a different part number which would indicate to me that they are all different - i have not removed any yet but i can't see any reason why they would need to be - part parts that activate them and the parts they active i have out and cleaned seem all the same

Any thoughts on this before i start on the long reeds? - i do need to remove some of them which are bent on the bottom from swinging out the keyboard

[Mechanic]

Go to archive.org Search for Linotype and download catalogue 51.  Don't use the waybackmachine search
A lot of the rods are the same but there are differences you need to keep them in order. If it is equipped with the first channel e then that rod is different

[Dave Hughes]

If this is the catalogue you are referring to George, it looks like page 44.


https://archive.org/download/LinotypePartsCatalogNo51AssemblingDistributingPt1/linotype-catalog-51-741-51-F-QQ-7-5X-1952-assembling-distributing-5-29-30-31-32-part1of2-600dpijpg_text.pdf

[Mechanic]

Correct catalogue wrong page. Page 32 and 33

[interrobang]

Reference for a Model 31 is on pp 50–51 of Catalog 51.

Depending on the machine serial number, on an early Model 31 it appears there are seven different rods from H-4083–89, and on later serials, over 16 (I lost count).

[KPMartin]

The reeds on the model 7 I work on are stamped with the channel numbers they can be used in. I think the only difference between them is their slight lateral bends, which allow them to slide up and down smoothly even though the magazine channels do not quite line up with the keyboard cams.

I had to repair one that had broken in the same manner you describe. I thought I had made an entry in my blog about that repair but it turns out I never wrote that one. The impression I got while doing the repair is that the reeds are hardened steel, perhaps zinc-plated. I cut it off above the area where it slides in any guide and welded on a new stub end, which I then shaped to match the old one. In retrospect, brazing on the new piece would have been much easier.

Swinging out the keyboard is really easy, but you have to make sure that there are no raised lower reeds when you do it because they will bend or break either themselves or the upper reeds.

[Roger Holmes]

Guys - thanks for the comments - this is helpful

@KPMartin where in Canada are you? - i am in alberta

[KPMartin]

I'm in New Dundee, Ontario, about an hour's drive west of Toronto and just outside Kitchener/Waterloo.
The Linotype I work on is in Queenston, Ontario, which is along the Niagara River just downstream from Niagara Falls.

[Mechanic]

That is the territory I serviced for Canadian Linotype. From London Ontario to the Quebec border, 1957 until 1964. Then I was transferred to Montreal.
I might have even installed your machine. 

[KPMartin]

Wow, you're a long way from home!

I don't know much about the history of the Model 5 at the museum, other than its having been donated by the Rochester Institute of Technology. I think that before my time there they may have had another Linotype which came from the St.Catharines Standard.

[KPMartin]

I just added a post in my blog and a YouTube video about repairing a broken reed.


https://youtu.be/oLEncK_HhzA

The video isn't a great one because it doesn't show any of the actual work, but instead just the product of the intermediate steps (including failed ones).

Although I welded on a new bottom section, in retrospect I think brazing it on would have been easier.

The original rod is hardened steel and I suspect this is to stiffen it so it can push properly despite not being a straight rod. The hardening might also reduce wear at the upper end, where it may slide against the next escapement part in operation.

[Mechanic]

Nice work. Very resourceful. I might suggest, if you haven't thought of it, if it is in a position that gets a lot of work you might be able to swap it to a position that is used less often.