Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Please help ID a Martin › Re: Please help ID a Martin
It’s been a long time since I’ve been into a Martin clutch, but just about all mfrs have a history of such a thing at one time or another. Basically there are two hubs in line. A spring winds around both hubs. As one turns, friction grabs onto the spring, making it wind even tighter. That means it grabs both hubs and everything turns as one single unit. To de-clutch, some sort of device interrupts the driving hub end of the spring, making it unwind a bit which releases it’s grip. When it doesn’t work, suspect the cable or whatever operates the interrupter.
BTW, this type clutch is always engaged (in gear) when not running. It has to be running, or at least rotating, to cause the spring to unwind when the end is interrupted.