Time Telling through the AgesBrearley, Harry Chase
History
Time Telling through the Ages
Brearley, Harry Chase
Clocks and watches -- History; Time measurements
ESCAPEMENT, DOUBLE THREE-LEGGED GRAVITY—Invented in 1854 by E. B.
Denison, Esq., for the great clock at the Houses of Parliament. It is
the best escapement for very large clocks where the hands are exposed
to the action of the wind and snow, because it admits of great driving
power in the movement without its sensibly affecting the escapement as
would be the case in the dead-beat type. The impulse to the pendulum
is given by the weight of the lever arms falling through a given
distance and is therefore constant. This escapement consists of two
gravity impulse pallets pivoted in a line with the bending point of the
pendulum. There is a locking wheel made of two thin plates of three
teeth each. Between these plates are the three pins that lift the
pallets. The locking is effected by blocks screwed to the front of one
pallet and the back of the other. Impulse is given by the pallets in
turn striking the pendulum rod. The pendulum rod serves to unlock the
wheel. The arrangement is such that the lifting pins have a little free
run each time. Since the pallets are always lifted the same distance
they give a constant impulse to the pendulum.
[Illustration]
ESCAPEMENT, DUPLEX—Invented by Hook; later improved by Tyrer. Very
accurate but as originally made was affected by any sudden motion,
and hence of little use in watches. The escape wheel has two sets of
teeth. Those farthest from the center lock the wheel by pressing on a
hollow ruby cylinder fitted round the balance staff and notched so as
to permit the passing of the teeth as the balance moves in a direction
opposite to the wheel's motion. The second set stand up from the face
of the wheel and one gives impulse to the pallet every time a tooth
leaves the notch. This is not a detached escapement, but there is
little friction. As improved this escapement was used in the famous
Waterbury watches.
ESCAPEMENT, FOLIOT—A form of escapement actuated by a foliot balance.
See _Foliot_.
[Illustration]
ESCAPEMENT, FOUR-LEGGED GRAVITY—Invented by E. B. Denison (Sir Edmund
Beckett). The same in principle as the Double Three-Legged escapement,
only it has but one escape wheel with four teeth or legs instead of two
wheels with three legs each. The wheel has two sets of lifting pins—one
acting on each pallet. Occasionally used in regulators and other clocks
with a seconds pendulum, but of doubtful, if any, advantage over the
Graham dead-beat escapement.
ESCAPEMENT, FRICTIONAL—Any escapement in which the balance is never
free from the escapement. Examples: The Cylinder, Duplex and Verge
types.
ESCAPEMENT, GRAVITY—An escapement which gives impulse to the pendulum
by means of a weight falling through a constant distance. Of use in
turret and other exposed clocks where the hands' movements are affected
by wind, rain, and snow. See subtitles under these headings: _Double
Three-legged Gravity_; _Single Three-legged Gravity_; _Four-legged
Gravity_; _Six-legged Gravity_.
[Illustration]
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