Koken Barber Pole

[BrianS]

Well I didn't plan on having one of these in the basement when I woke up this morning. Found it pretty much by accident and had to buy it.  Figured I'd never see one like it again.  Anyone ever restored one of these?   It's a beast of a barber pole.  About 3' tall and close to 4' once I find a globe to put on the top.  The mounting bracket, top and bottom are cast iron.  Bottom ring is about 12" in diameter.  When I went to look, I was hoping to find an older, functional, SMALL pole that I could hang in the rec room.  My jaw dropped when I saw this thing.   Kind of like looking for a 44 and finding a 6 case.  It seems to be in pretty good condition.  It came with 2 motors, both of which need some work.  There is a newer electric motor that was a retrofit unit.  It can be replaced if it won't spin smoothly after being cleaned up.  It also came with the original mechanical wind up motor.  I would love to get it functional again, but it has huge issues.  You can see it in the pics below.  The bottom section is supposed to be a coil spring.  It has rusted out and the coil has snapped into pieces.  The top part with the clockwork gears is dirty and somewhat rough, but all the gears spin freely with no resistance of any kind.  Pretty amazing to watch it work.  If I can find a replacement spring and get the unit apart, I have no concern about the gear assembly working properly.  Anyone have any insight? 

[BrianS]

Couple more pics.  Last one is the inside the bottom cap. The hole is to allow you to wind up the mechanism inside.  You use a device that looks like a hand auger.  A full wind is supposed to give a full days worth of spin to the pole

[collecture]

Can't help too much as my BP's are newer than that - I have a matching pair of Rose Supply Co. poles.
Cool looking pole though
Maybe search around this site and see if they might have the springs.
http://www.bowmanbeauty.com/store/shop.mvc?page=BBS/CTGY/1-1100
I know when I got my poles, they had the correct paper liner even though mine wasn't a Marvy. They might have the coil spring - calling them might be best and they could possibly tell you where to go for them.
Worst case, could you wind up some spring steel yourself to work??

[Eric]

I have a Marvy 55...older one from 40s... there are guys that collect these like anyting else...watch ebay... some of those guys that sell collect...  maybe try contacting a few of those guys you'r gonna need a chair too!

[bigred]

wonder if you could get the spring from a clock maker or
repair shop??

here is a link to several clock shops around missouri

http://www.manta.com/mb_44_B3277_26/watch_clock_and_jewelry_repair/missouri

[BrianS]

BigRed,

I am thinking along the same lines as you.  There is a guy here in town that has done clock repair for decades.  I am hoping he has seen it all.  Or that he may have a large clock spring that would work in a place of my broken one.  Its kind of strange how the motor got into the condition it is in.  The spring and the lower pieces of metal are in far worst condition than the gears and the upper section.  Almosty like it was sitting in a couple of inches of water for a while.  There are no repair parts for these things that I can find - can't even identify the model number of the whole pole for sure yet.  Still digging though!  Based on the descriptions and the fact that the unit actually used a wind up motor, it has to date back to the 20's or early 30's. 

[bigred]

yeah i would say at some point it probably started to leak
and the water collected in the bottom away from the top
gears and over time of sitting and winding it just gave out
but yeah if there is a cloks shop close that has been around
the corner a few times id say he would be able to come up
with something for you
or here is this it might not be the same and may be out of
your reach (price wise) but its a thought ..

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370381655457&rvr_id=&crlp=1_263602_263622&UA=WVI7&GUID=7fcbe7ca1280a026840409e4ff8b3187&itemid=370381655457&ff4=263602_263622

[BrianS]

I saw that one on ebay when I was looking for info on my motor.  Since I have an electric motor that will work, I don't want to sink much into the mechanical version.  Once its inside, you don't see it anyway.  But I like the nostalgia of bringing the original motor back to life.  The one on Ebay is a different mfg so it would not fit in my pole.  Unbelievable coincidence today.  Went by the clock shop and the guy looks at me and just says "Nope, that's a barber pole motor.  Won't touch it"  Well I am extremely impressed that he regonized it, and curious why he won't touch it.  Turns out its the coil spring.  Says springs that big will take off your fingers if you don't know how to work with them.  I can see his point.  Then he says he's had one in his shop for 6 months that someone brought in!  He turns around and reaches into a box and pulls out a motor identical to mine.  Except this one looks brand new and it definately has a new coil spring on it.  What are the odds of that!!   The problem with the one in the shop is that the gears are siezed up.  The shopkeeper said the gears are worn out and lock up because the gaps between the teeth have worn too wide.  The extra play messes up the alignment and the whole unit binds up.  Too bad because this thing has had some work done to it, but replacing the gears may be impossible and the shop owner doesn't want to try and dig into it.  The good news is that someone replaced the spring on that version so the knowhow exists in my neck of the woods.  The Shop owner is going give my name to his other customer and ask if he will call me.  Hopefully he did the repairs himself or had it done and can point me to his source.  We both agreed that those may be the only two versions of that motor within 100 miles or more.  Can't believe my good fortune.  On another note, I took my electric motor in to have it checked out.  The guy who does that work has an old CS-64 sitting in his warehouse. 

[bigred]

that  is ironick sorry i couldnt be more help but will
keep my eyes open hope the other lead pans out for
you