My "Perey" Turnstile Restoration

gorfchampion

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I found this 1950's Perey turnstile at the August 2011 Goldrush Days in Rochester, MN. I had only seen one other turnstile for sale in all our years of going to Goldrush Days. This one generated a lot of interest throughout the day. The seller had turned down many offers, all of which were lower than his asking price. I didn't even make him an offer until the end of the day when I discovered the turnstile was still sitting there. After a brief confrontation with another would-be buyer (who had made an offer earlier and was rejected), the seller and I came to an agreement and he helped me load the turnstile into my van. The other would-be buyer was not happy!
The turnstile is really heavy so I asked my neighbor to help me unload it. Then I started disassembly. Once the top cover was removed I then realized the extent of the damage that had occurred over the years. The hydraulic mechanism that provides resistance for the tri-arm was broken right off. The casting had snapped off in 2 places, rendering that part of the mechanism useless. There was also duct tape wrapped around various parts of the "guts" for reasons I'll never understand, and it was missing one important return spring as well.
The entire "guts" is held in place by 4 main bolts on the bottom and 2 smaller screws from the front. In order to get the assembly out of the body, though, I had to grind off the top cover screw mounts from the inside of the body, which must've been welded into place at the factory AFTER the mechanism was mounted in place. I suppose they made it that way never thinking anyone would ever remove it.
Even with those screw mounts removed, getting the casting out of the body was a nightmare. The "arm" had to be removed first, and do you think that was easy? Hardly. The arm casting is not mounted to the shaft with a press fit machined pin, but rather a tapered double ended bolt, the strangest thing I'd ever seen. It took me a while to figure out how to even remove it. In all my years as a machinist I never seen the likes of such a bolt.
Back to the hydraulic mechanism. My attempt at using JB Weld to fix it failed miserably. I finally had a professional weld it, and luckily it held even though the casting was not of the best quality after all these years.
Another hurdle was trying to remove the diamond plate (that you walk over) from the bottom. Those screws were NOT coming out! I tried using a torch to heat them and had no luck at all. I finally had to drill the screws out.
The turnstile was too big for me to sandblast, so I took it to Winona Welding and Sandblasting. $35.00 for the entire thing. A very reasonable price.
I disassembled the "guts" as far as I could (the main gear hub drive pin would not come out) and cleaned it all up, put fresh lube on the bearings, attached the welded hydraulic mechanism back in place with a new return spring, and primed, painted, and clearcoated the face.
I drilled and tapped new holes in the base for the diamond plate, which is really cool because you can see the wear marks on it from people walking over it thousands of times. I also countersunk the holes deeper for new bolts. It turned out pretty good considering all the rust that was underneath the plate!
I primed, painted, and clearcoated all the parts separately. The body was sitting on top of a 4x4 block of wood, freshly clearcoated with maybe half an hour of dry time when my 2 year old son somehow got past my wife while they were playing in the driveway….and he made his way into the garage and knocked the body over! Luckily it didn't land on him, and it miraculously only had a few scratches, which I promptly repainted and clearcoated again. It looks good and you can't see any flaws.
The hydraulic mechanism has an adjustable pressure screw that I set just right, and it gives the tri-arm bar a small amount of resistance as the patron walks thru, and the new return spring allows the arm to snap back into place.
I shined up the brightwork with metal polish. The armrail is aluminum, and the top cover and tri-arm bars are stainless.
I don't know where the turnstile spent it's working years. I wonder if people going to a ball game or a concert were the ones who wore down the diamondplate. It more than likely was not in a subway, as it is not the "token" type of turnstile with a counter. It was probably used for simple crowd control. One thing is for sure, people were a lot thinner when this turnstile was made! I wear a size 34 jean and I barely fit thru it without turning sideways!
I hauled the turnstile down into The Lost Highway Arcade in pieces, and assembled it there. I made tickets special for my arcade that gamers can hand over to the "ticket-taker" (me) before they walk thru the turnstile. I hope that people will walk thru and find it fun. It certainly is a good conversation piece. I had a lot of fun restoring it!!

A few before/after pics:

turnstilebase.jpg

armsofturnstile.jpg

restoredPereyturnstile1.jpg

restoredPereyturnstile9.jpg


For more pics and info, go here:

http://s1142.photobucket.com/albums/n601/gorfmaster/1950s Perey turnstile restoration/?start=all
 
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Great read! Thanks for sharing.

Unfortunately, my office network is blocking the pics right now but I am looking forward to logging in from home tonight and having a look at the finished product.

Steve
MM
 
Wow, another fine addition to the Lost Highway Arcade! That thing is cool. You can tell just by looking at the pics that it is one HEAVY piece! They sure don't build things like that anymore. You're going to have to update the name of your place to "The Lost Highway Arcade/Museum" ;).
Nice work.
 
Thanks fellas. Here's some more before/after pics in case you don't feel like going to my photobucket link:

backsideofbody.jpg

restoredPereyturnstile3.jpg

turnstilebase2.jpg

restoredPereyturnstile8.jpg
 
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Some pics of the inside.

First 2 pics:
You can see the broken mounting arms of the hydraulic mechanism. This is the same type of device you see on old heavy wooden doors in older buildings. It keeps the door from slamming shut. It pushes back so the door closes slowly. On the turnstile it offers resistance as the patron pushes on the tri-arm while walking thru.

brokencastinginsideturnstile.jpg

anothershotofbrokenmech.jpg


These 2 pics:
The hydraulic mech mounting arms welded back on and the unit mounted to the guts casting. New return spring on top as well.

turnstileresto5.jpg

turnstileresto7.jpg


If you look at this last picture you see the main gear hub has "teeth". These are there for one reason, to catch the backstop arm within the guts (it's under the long arm and you can't see it) so the tri-arm bar will lock if a patron tries to walk back through. Simple design, but it wasn't working because the return spring for that arm had fallen off and was laying in the bottom of the casting. Works great now! There ain't no going back through! It's a one-way trip....
 
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Thanks for the comments fellas. I love working on stuff like this (no electronics, ha ha).

Anyone else have one of these in their arcade? Please share if you do!
 
I will soon, after leaving your arcade party on the 15th... ;) Nice work there Johnny boy!!
 
John, will you marry me? Then I can divorce you and take that turn-style as part of the D settlement. Really nice work. I love that 1950's Sea Green.
 
John, will you marry me? Then I can divorce you and take that turn-style as part of the D settlement. Really nice work. I love that 1950's Sea Green.

I'd marry you, but I heard you put out too easy. I need a challenge, not a hooker!

Glad you like it. I went with blue ocean breeze and black because I found the original green (see the "guts" mechanism pics) to be rather boring. You put all that work into it, the damn thing should "pop"!
 
That casting looks like it wouldn't hold a weld, what type of weld did you use to fix it? Mig, Arc, bottles. Any shot of the actual weld?

Amazing job refinishing the exterior.... I love the industrial color.
 
Your resto

AWESOME!! I enjoy seeing something different. I love any type of restoration. I love restoring old radios, motorcycles along with arcade games. I would restore old cars and trucks if I had more $$$. Nice work. Thanks for the pics. Did you ever see the episode of American Restoration where Rick restored an old turnstile?
 
your resto

Quote:"Thanks for the comments fellas. I love working on stuff like this (no electronics, ha ha). " Me Too. LOL
 
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