Repair and Servicing of a Vintage (1940's or 1950's??) Rittenhouse 8-Note Long Tube Door Chime

I don't know the exact age or Model Number for this Rittenhouse 8-Note Door Chime Base. The owner said the house was built in the late 1940's. My guess it that it's from the late 40's or early 1950's.
It's a well made and sturdy Chime - with some interesting design features -
This Video goes over how it works and what type of Servicing and Repair was done do have it work reliably again.
If you know the Model Number for this Rittenhouse Door Chime - Please leave it in the Comments
Here's a Link to our Repair Request Form:
docs.google.co...
For more detailed information about NuTone Door Chimes and Intercom Systems:
You Can:
Visit our web site: northsideforyou......
Or you can email use at: [e-mail]
Or you can call us at: 925-743-8236

[@zx8401ztv]

like the monty python reference :-D
That has to be the biggest music box i've ever seen, the normal music boxes have a tiny drum with pegs, but that door chime has a monster drum in comparison :-D
Heavy duty quality made chime.
For some reason i was thinking about the drum wear, if the slopes were painted black and optical sensors mounted where the contacts were, it would never wear the drum out.
the optical sensors would drive the inputs of a ULN 2000 and something driver to pulse the solinoids.
I do think up some rubbish lol.

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

Hi zx8401ztv: Interesting idea - if only they had such devices back in the day - Chris

[@joelinpa185]

Seeing how much there is to go wrong with this mechanism, I'm glad my later model has the Master Controller. Nice video, thanks for posting it.

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

Hi Joel: Although I've only ever worked on 1 of this model of Rittenhouse Chimes, I suspect that if it had been through 1 more design cycle - it would been a much better product. For all of it's complexities, it is an elegant design - Chris

[@BAFVintage]

This is an incredibly rare specimen. The design of the mechanism is known to a lot of collectors as the "music box" mechanism, being that the rotating drum and contact design is reminiscent of a wind-up music box. This is a very early design, I would say it's from the late 30's - early 40's. This came long before the standard synchronous rotor design. The mechanism is quite troublesome, the bearing for the drum shaft wears and the shaft itself is often out of round so it's no question why Rittenhouse changed designs.

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

Hi Baltimore Alarm: Interesting. I think it's one of those designs, that if it went through 1 more revision - it would have been a keeper - Chris

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

A repair of a very cool Rittenhouse 8-Note Door Chime - This Chime is built like a tank - Thanks to Tony G, who sent me some information about this Chime - It referred to as a "Music Box" Chime - Still no model number. . . - Chris

[@CyanAardvark]

Just some thoughts about how parts might be replaced if needed.
- The chime hangers look like something you could have made at a machine shop on a lathe, or maybe DIY on a mini-lathe.
- If the copper fingers for the switch had been broken, it looks like a new one could be sawed or rotary ground out of a copper sheet of the right thickness, and the bend made on a two part mold-like jig before cutting. Not sure how a machinist would go about the switch contacts on the end - maybe drill it and solder in a short piece of rod stock of whatever metal it is?
- If the drum were trashed...someone ambitious might try making a mold and casting the outside and machining the inside, or reverse engineering whatever device originally made it to punch an aluminum tube if you could find the right thickness. Or maybe 3d scan and have it made on a CNC machine or 3d printer. Anything I can think of would be expensive and/or hard to get right.

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

Hi CyanAardvark: Thanks for the comments - Knurled Nuts are fairly common and finding some with the right thread shouldn't be to hard. It would probably be best to replace all 4, to keep things uniform. It might be necessary to restring the Tubes to have then hang at the right height.
If the Copper Switch was broken - it might be possible to solder patches to repair it. If a new assembly was needed, it might be able to be cut in on a CNC machine or a Water Jet machine. The Switch Contacts could be soldered to the copper fingers.
The Drum is probably the trickiest item to replace. The inner part is solid steel - a good machinist should be able to reproduce it. The drum could possible be made from some stock aluminum tubing, with the "Tabs" bonded to the outer surface. Of course, you would need an example to copy to get the Tab order correct.
My experience with 3D Printing tells me that it would take an Excellent 3D CAD Designer to create the print file. This would be an expensive process, I can easily see it costing hundreds of dollars to do this - Chris

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

I have found out that this Rittenhouse Chime Mechanism was most likely used in 2 different Models - The Ambassador or the Ambassador DeLuxe. I will post a picture of the Ambassador DeLuxe Cover in the Community section - Chris

[@sachinmestry6385]

Sir can you please give me length of Each Brass pipe ?
Thanks

[@northsideservicecompany3567]

Hi sachinmestry: I have no idea how long the Tubes are - We don't have customers send the Tubes, due to the shipping costs - Chris

[@sachinmestry6385]

@@northsideservicecompany3567 Thanks 😊