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Cleaning Mainsprings

Workmen have often been seen cleaning a mainspring by seizing it with a rag and then drawing it out pitilessly and unmercifully. No other consequences can follow such treatment than the breakage of the spring on the earliest possible occasion. Cleaning is best done in the following manner: Lay the spring in benzine. As soon as the adhering oil is dissolved, take it out and seize it with a soft linen rag which imbibes the greater part of the adhering benzine. Cover the palm of the left hand with a corner of the rag; put the spring flat upon it and with the index finger of the right hand, around which another part of the rag is wound, press gently upon it, and let it assume a conical shape; by suitable motions of the finger while wiping, the spring will turn, and every part of its blade may easily and thoroughly be cleansed of all impurities. A spring treated in this manner will be freed of all matter, while at the same time its molecular arrangement is not violently interfered with, in a way calculated to injure its elasticity.