Broken Spring- a Detour

My Baltimorean No. 2 (4 x 6) (we're back to printing presses here) has a broken spring. So this is a "commercial" break in the Sespe Wilderness tale, while I post photos and ask for help in getting a new, specialty spring made so I can restore this press.

First the actual photos. The gripper bar works because the spring sits on it and has a long, straight extension resting on the press frame. The spring is broken at one of its coils, so there is now no resistance. This makes the gripper flop uselessly forward when the press is closing, and when the rollers come back down they ink right over the gripper. Not so good.

Photo #1: you can see the broken part of the spring. It used to continue around to the bottom of the bar, where its end was poked into a small hole in the bar, which you can't see from the top.

Photo #2 A view from the outside, showing the long extension which feeds through a hole in the frame casting, under the platen.

And finally, my schematic of the way it works. The broken piece of the spring is the last round (bottom most); the X shows where, underneath the gripper bar, the end of the spring fits into a hole.

If you can PLEASE suggest where to start-- I need to order this spring remanufactured. Would I contact a blacksmith? a machinist? Thanks for any input! Also-- to keep this available on Letpress, please duplicate your comments to the list, if you will be so kind.