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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.
Sigmund worked mainly on new developments in the area of drawing instruments and precision clocks, while his brothers handled the technical, sales and management of the company. In 1878 he settled in Munich, to be in contact with the local scientific community. [4] He invented the Riefler escapement which was patented in 1889. [5]
Galileo's escapement is a design for a clock escapement, invented around 1637 by Italian scientist Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642). It was the earliest design of a pendulum clock. Since he was by then blind, Galileo described the device to his son, who drew a sketch of it. The son began construction of a prototype, but both he and Galileo died ...
Gravity escapements were used in tower clocks. By the end of the 19th century specialized escapements were used in the most accurate clocks, called astronomical regulators, which were employed in naval observatories and for scientific research. The Riefler escapement, used in Clemens-Riefler regulator clocks was accurate to 10 milliseconds per day.
The Ottoman engineer Taqi ad-Din described a weight-driven clock with a verge-and-foliot escapement, a striking train of gears, an alarm, and a representation of the Moon's phases in his book The Brightest Stars for the Construction of Mechanical Clocks (Al-Kawākib al-durriyya fī wadh' al-bankāmat al-dawriyya), written around 1565. [119]
The escapement was never mass produced, and no examples are known to exist. It might be relevent to the Sigmund Reifler biographical article but not here, as the watch escapement was necessarily different from his pendulum clock escapement. There is a more important problem with this article. Riefler invented two pendulum clock escapements.
Anchor escapement clocks driven by a mainspring required a fusee to even out the force of the mainspring. It is a recoil escapement as mentioned above; the momentum of the pendulum pushes the escape wheel backward during part of the cycle. This causes extra wear to the movement, and applies varying force to the pendulum, causing inaccuracy.
The verge escapement caused the foliot to oscillate back and forth about its vertical axis. [12] The rate of the clock could be adjusted by moving the weights in or out on the foliot. The verge escapement probably evolved from an alarm mechanism to ring a bell which had appeared centuries earlier.