Found -three months after giving up looking!

[WoodallP]

Those of you who know what this is will know I have a delicate time ahead. It’s one of a set of three and this one went AWOL; the part it goes in still worked with only two but now it has to go back.



I lost it before I even knew it existed as it was the first time I had opened the part up. I have worked on three since so I know what to expect!

I had swept the floor many times with brushes and magnets but finally today fate was on my side when I wasn’t looking for it.

So what is it (and don’t say a ruler)?

Hints: It comes from Wetzlar and no it’s not a flux capacitor!

 

[Godfrey]

I can only imagine that it might be a support bushing for some part of a shutter or shutter release mechanism. Purely a guess ... it's in the right size domain for that kind of part.

G

 

[WoodallP]

I can only imagine that it might be a support bushing for some part of a shutter or shutter release mechanism. Purely a guess ... it's in the right size domain for that kind of part.

G

Well Godfrey you are in the right ball park with shutter, but a bushing it is not. I will hint that you won't find it on your IIIc or anything later. I can't speak for a IIIb as I have never opened one but III, IIIa will have these; my omissions say something.

 

[raydm6]

The IIIc introduced ball bearing shutters I believe: is this related to the shutter? Shutter rollers maybe? 🤔

 

[Valkir1987]

Looks like this is a part of a one way clutch mechanism for the slow speeds. If the IIIb has them.

 

[WoodallP]

Looks like this is a part of a one way clutch mechanism for the slow speeds. If the IIIb has them.

Well done! As I said I can’t speak for the IIIb but yes this is a part of the clutch mechanism from the slow speeds on a III. Here is a picture from a fully equipped one:

 

[underlord]

I would never have guessed what it was but that's a great find!

 

[WoodallP]

I would never have guessed what it was but that's a great find!

Even nicer as I had given up; however putting it back is going to be a pain as you have to position them just right. I tried “glueing” them with a little light oil once but I didn't feel confident I had flushed it all away afterwards.

The moral of the story is don’t disassemble pre-war slow speed units unless you really have to. Unfortunately I now have to.

 

[ddutchison2]

Finding reassurance in the conservation of mass.

 

[WoodallP]

So the work is done, I pulled the slow speed escapement out of the camera and disassembled it to put the tiny ring back. Here are some pictures, this is from a leica III but the IIIa is the same (and probably the IIIb). However I have seen ones where the bottom level cogs are at the top level and vise versa. If you are ever doing this, wetting the parts with something that evaporates cleanly and holds things in place by surface tension helps a lot.

 

[Darinwc]

Interesting because it looks an aweful lot like the advance mechanism on a super ikonta. Those little rings are PITA to get back in place.