Color-Coded Spring Castings

By Tim Kolhoff

Color-Coded Spring Castings ININ THE EARLY YEARS, door manufacturers and dealers wanted LH or RH spring fittings for their RHW and LHW springs. At that time, there were no universal threaded cones. Most were intended to be wound into or onto the spring. Some had “windows” or “clips” to lock the “hook end” of the spring to the fitting, further securing it throughout the winding process. There were also some fittings designed to be “snapped” into the spring, a practical solution that has been smartly refined recently.

Many spring companies and door dealers may still have these older fittings in their inventories. These are the “antiques” of our industry. You may even see some all-in-one units (spring anchors with drums attached). There also existed a line of drums that were spring-loaded with the shaft bore so as to restrict cable slack. These are just some of the antiques that have led to better designs and more efficient solutions.

Late in the `60s, early `70s, the manufacturers and dealers hinted at a universal thread design of winding cones. At that time, universals were very rare and unavailable. Stories of their origin vary, but our best evidence shows that industry veteran Bill Eichenberger pioneered these, although other parties came to own the patents.

The expiration of these patents has allowed for more economical production. These designs gained popularity in our industry as manufacturers and dealers could limit their SKUs (Stock Keeping Units) in inventory. This was seen as a great practical and financial advantage.

Now the industry requires these cones be color-coded so you can easily denote LH/RH. This has been a convenient addition to our industry. As you can imagine, the pioneers of the universal thread in castings shake their heads at this. In their minds, color-coding has overridden their accomplishment. There are still many installers that learned the “feel” of LH/RH springs. This is a good and efficient practice to continue. Nevertheless, color-coding has made recognizing and replacing springs and drums easier to accomplish.

It has always been confusing to homeowners, installers and door manufacturers alike to understand that a left-wound spring needs to be installed on the right side of a door— from the inside—using a pair of springs. Conversely, the right-hand wound spring needs to be on the left side. This allows the springs to be wound “up,” and the cable to wrap around the drums as required.

For simplicity, there were even drums on the market imprinted with the phrase “install left side, inside looking outside.” Color-coding has cleared up all this confusion. There have even been universal drums introduced and used in our market, but the major problem with these was erratic cable wrap-up.

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