cleaning a packard shutter

[Allen in Montreal]

Thank you very much Scott and everyone for your thoughts.
I have taken a quick (and not very good) pix to post, at this point I wonder if it comes down to a limp spring??

[EuGene Smith]

Allen, that spring, which you see lying limp on the right end of the silver lever in both pictures is not under any tension when the shutter is in BULB operation . . . as it is in your two pictures. When you squeeze the bulb the air pressure pushes the piston out to open the shutter. Then when you release the bulb (with your thumb over the vent hole), the negative air pressure draws the piston back into the cylinder (i.e., it sucks the piston into the cylinder) to close the shutter.

Look at the left end of the silver lever in your first picture, and you will see the INSTANT mode pin hole . . . since the operation shown in the pictures is in BULB mode, the lever will travel forward and cover up the hole as you can see in the second picture.

In INSTANT operation, the pin through the hole will stop the straight forward movement of the silver lever, pushes it to the left as the shutter opens, and puts tension on the spring. When the shutter blades reach the full open position, they slip off the end of the silver lever (and free from the operation of the piston), then the tension on the spring closes the shutter blades.

While you have the shutter closed, as in the first picture, put the pin in the hole and then watch the operation of the shutter, noting the movement of the silver lever and spring.

EuGene