Missing spring on Watson “Secretary” 9x10 press ?

Hi folks…
I’m just about done restoring a ~1880s press i bought this summer. After fixing a century’s worth of “insults”, it now operates very very smoothly. New rollers and trucks from Todd are on the way. Yeahhh… !! There is one item that i’m unsure though; the spring that actuates the grippers.

In the “Watson A” pic we see an enlargement of a pic from the Smith. At the bottom right we see what seems to be a leg of a hefty torsion spring between 2 movable gripper parts

In the “Watson 1” pic we see the two movable parts; each one held by a finger

In the “Watson 2” pic we see a torsion spring similar (but smaller) to what * i think* should go in the hollowed part that its balanced onto. (that part being the lower movable part referred in the above #1 pic)

In the “Watson 3” pic we see a spring attached to the upper movable part.

I surmise;
That as the platen moves towards the bed, the grippers are maintained against the platen by the spring shown in #3. Only when the platen is farthest away from the bed does the torsion spring (pic #2) overcomes spring #3, thus opening up for the printer to remove the sheet easily.

Am i right, or wrong ?? If someone out there has a Watson Secretary press… could you provide any insights, please ??

After looking at some 4500 torsion springs on ebay…. i’m now contemplating making my own. But it would be nice to know beforehand what exactly i’m trying to duplicate…

many thanks to all.

image: Watson's A.jpg

Watson's A.jpg

image: Watson's 1.JPG

Watson's 1.JPG

image: Watson's 2.jpg

Watson's 2.jpg

image: Watson's 3.JPG

Watson's 3.JPG

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