Britannic Floor Spring

1/18/2016

After the Christmas holidays the first floor springs we had to deal with were 5 Britannic's at Nottingham University's Law and Social Sciences Building. Some we swapped outright from our stock and some we repaired as can be seen below in the pictures. There were a number of problems we had to overcome including broken springs, wear to the claws, broken piston wheels and wear to the pivots.

The wear has been dealt with, time to put the Britannic's back together again.

Below are comparative shots showing the evolution of the Britannic (William Newman and Sons) also known as the Leader when supplied by Parker Winder & Achurch or the Lion when supplied by Yannedis & Co Ltd.

August 26th, 1926 Herbert George Newman of William Newman & Sons Patent of the Britannic.

William Henry Tonks along with Walter Sparks was also responsible for a similar design dated September 4th, 1924.

Further improvements were also attributed to Tonks of what appears to be an amalgamation of the two designs dated January 21st, 1932.

Comments are always appreciated.

6 Comments

Jess the door closer doctor

1/29/2016 07:01:42 am

as usual, liked the blog post about this one, loved the shots of you [utting springs back in with your own spreader tool as well as the pics of the parts all laid out on the ground as well as the worn roller and other parts that needed attention badly.

keep up the good work you do on these!!

margarine

2/6/2016 08:47:02 pm

haven't seen that r.h. shot before ??????

Rowena Allan

8/15/2018 07:02:02 am

Hello from Durban, South Africa. Our home has a Britannic system on our front door, probably installed in 1950. Our large heavy door is slamming and needs to be serviced but I am having difficulty finding anyone to do so here. Is there an adjustment we can make? Is oil required? I would love to post a pic but couldn’t figure out how! I’d be so grateful for your assistance. Kind regards Rowena. Ps the history behind these mechanisms is really interesting!

Rod Fathers link

8/2/2019 02:14:10 am

My apologies I appear to have missed your post at the time of sending. Please send me a picture of your floor spring to my email address - servicesbf@gmail.com I hope in the future to have an area where people could post their pictures, especially those from so far away. If you correspond via the email address provided I will discuss your problem in more depth or on the phone if you prefer. Thank you for your comment and interest, it is most appreciated and it is fantastic to hear you want to continue to use you existing floor spring rather than replace.

Brent

4/2/2020 03:47:35 pm

Hi From Durban,South Africa.I am a technician and I am dealing with a site that has these old wooden double leaf doors with a floor spring system.On the brass covers it is written Wardkiss Durban,The Britannic.I would like to disconnect the spring as I am installing an access control system with a magnetic lock and a door closer on the one door leaf.In my search I have been lead to your blog.I have no clue on how floor springs work but always willing to learn something new.I have pictures but do not know how to upload.Your help would be much appreciated.Your blog is very interesting and the history of all this is amazing.Regards

Rod Fathers link

3/14/2021 12:51:22 pm

Sorry I have not replied earlier I have been having a number of problems with my site. Here is my email address if you want to contact me regarding your problems with your floor spring.

Britannic Floor Spring

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