This music box movement comes from a family heirloom rocking rooster (like a rocking horse) that I believe my dad had when he was a kid in the late 1930s – early 1940s. The music box stopped working long ago. With the advice of my friend and automaton builder/clock repairman Dug North, I intend to restore it to it’s former glory.
The music box mechanism itself was made by Thorens of Ste. Croix, Switzerland.
So far, I’ve loosened up the parts with sewing machine oil and then some WD-40. I used a pick and a wooden pointed dowel to scrape out come green gunk — possibly corrosion and old lubricant? — and now things are moving a bit.
Dug advised me to remove the comb before tackling the mainspring, in case the spring was wound and bound and could potentially unleash some fury on the drum causing damage to the comb.
Sure enough, the mainspring is broken. Time to get a replacement.
John Park 