I have some questions about the Ampico pump that some of you in this
group with more experience than I can probably answer.  A few months
ago I restored a Mason & Hamlin Ampico A (late A model - 1927).  I can
hear a noise from the pump that sounds like the flap valves slapping
shut.  I don't believe it is connecting arm knock.  In Reblitz book he
speaks about a felt silencing strip between the flap leather and the
seat, but there was none in mine.  The outside flap valves just sit
directly on the wood.  The inside flap valves have a wire running the
length of the center of the holes.

Here are my questions:

1. Should there be a felt strip, and should it be on both the inside
   and outside valves?  Should it be over the wire that goes down the
   center of the inside valve openings and how wide should it be?

2. Reblitz also mentions that often the valve "seats" are rotten.
   Should there be leather valve seats for the leather flap valves to
   seat on rather than just the bare wood?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Howard Wyman¶
hwyman@digital.net