Just to satisfy curiosity - I have a Wollensak Regular shutter. The pneumatic cocking piston on the left (right looking from the front) appears to have the air entry soldered shut. I found a few photos of the very same online, so it appears to be a common thing.

Did Wollensak experience a wide-spread failure of the cocking cylinder?

This does not effect the usefulness of the shutter because it can be manually cocked.

(Thanks to Jim Galli for the excellent lens and shutter.)