Leaf springs

Dick Morris wrote on Chaski.org:

In Jeff Smith's arch bar truck thread I asked how the eyes are made on the end of elliptical springs and was referred to a December, 1997 Gail Gish article in Modeltec. Gail silver soldered a rod on the lower spring. To the upper spring he soldered a tube which was later slitted. No heat treating was specified after the silver soldering.

I dug through my library and found a drawing comparing two styles of ends. This came from an old text.

Some time back I made a pattern for the end casting but wasn't able to get the pattern to pull without breakaway in the recess for the springs. The next photo shows the original wooden split pattern, the urethane copies on a match plate, and the unsuccessful castings. I'm in the process of reworking the wooden pattern so I can make the piece using lost wax.