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The anchor escapement was invented by clockmaker William Clement, [1] [2] [3] who popularized the anchor in his invention of the longcase or grandfather clock around 1680. Clement's invention was a substantial improvement on Robert Hooke's constant force escapement of 1671. [4] The oldest known anchor clock is Wadham College Clock, a tower ...
Its advantages are (1) it is a "detached" escapement, in which (unlike the cylinder or duplex escapements) the balance wheel is only in contact with the lever during the short impulse period when it swings through its centre position and swings freely the rest of its cycle, increasing accuracy; and (2) it is a self-starting escapement, so if ...
For the first two hundred years or so of the mechanical clock's existence, the verge, with foliot or balance wheel, was the only escapement used in mechanical clocks. In the sixteenth century alternative escapements started to appear, but the verge remained the most used escapement for 350 years until mid-17th century advances in mechanics ...
Another escapement also called a "pin pallet escapement", unrelated to the Roskopf above, is the Brocot escapement, invented in 1823 by Louis-Gabriel Brocot [7] and improved by his son Achille, and used in 19th century French pendulum clocks. It is a variation of the anchor escapement in which the pallets are semicircular pins. The escapement ...
A balance wheel, or balance, is the timekeeping device used in mechanical watches and small clocks, analogous to the pendulum in a pendulum clock. It is a weighted wheel that rotates back and forth, being returned toward its center position by a spiral torsion spring , known as the balance spring or hairspring .
The lever escapement, invented by the English clockmaker Thomas Mudge in 1754 (albeit first used in 1769), is a type of escapement that is used in almost all mechanical watches, as well as small mechanical non-pendulum clocks, alarm clocks, and kitchen timers.
The fourth wheel also turns the escape wheel pinion. Many clocks don't need this wheel because of their slower-moving escapements; in these the third wheel drives the escape wheel directly. Escape wheel which is released one tooth at a time by the escapement, with each swing of the pendulum or balance. The escape wheel keeps the pendulum or ...
The Riefler escapement is a mechanical escapement for precision pendulum clocks invented and patented [1] by German instrument maker Sigmund Riefler in 1889. [2] It was used in the astronomical regulator clocks made by his German firm Clemens Riefler from 1890 to 1965, [ 3 ] which were perhaps the most accurate all-mechanical pendulum clocks made.