I strongly recommend that Pat DeWitt simply remove the takeup spool,
and insert shims so that the circular brass flanges at the ends of the
spool are now further away from the center of the wooden cylinder that
is the take-up spool.  By making the takeup spool wider, rolls will not
be damaged as they wind onto the takeup spool and hit the brass
flanges.  It is also of the utmost importance that the takeup spool
have virtually no friction, when the roll is rewinding.  This spool box
almost certainly contains a play-out brake, and also a reroll brake.
That reroll brake must be disabled.

The simplest way to do this is to remove the screw that the wooden arm
of the reroll brake pivots on, and put in a felt punching, and then
replace everything.  Now, the reroll brake is held tight and it will
always be in the position where it does not rub on the takeup spool.
Because the play-out and reroll brakes are connected by a spring,
simply removing the reroll brake will prevent the play-out brake from
working.   Yes, you can install the earlier kind of cam-adjusted
tracker, but my method is much simpler and will work just as well.
If you have any questions, please ask.

Randolph Herr