Time Telling through the AgesBrearley, Harry Chase
History
Time Telling through the Ages
Brearley, Harry Chase
Clocks and watches -- History; Time measurements
QUARTER—1. A term in common use for the period of three months—a
quarter of the year. 2. The fourth part of an hour—15 minutes.
QUICK TRAIN—A watch movement balance vibrates 18,000 times per hour.
Unequal mainspring pull is less felt in the quick train. Used
generally in Switzerland and America, and a feature of practically all
modern watches.
RACK—A straight bar, or segment of a circle, with teeth along one edge.
It has a reciprocating motion.
"RADIOLITE"—Trade name adopted by Robt. H. Ingersoll & Bro. for their
watches having black faced dials with luminous hands and numerals.
Composed of a substance in which genuine radium is used in minute
proportions.
RADIUS OF GYRATION—The distance from the center of gyration to the axis
of rotation.
RAMSEY, DAVIS—One of the earliest British watchmakers of renown. He was
appointed "keeper of clocks and watches" to James I, and appears to
have retained his appointments after the death of the latter. He was
the first master of the Clockmakers' Company tho he seems to have taken
little active part in the management thereof. Scott introduces him into
his story—"The Fortunes of Nigel" as a Keeper of a shop a few yards
east of Temple Bar. Without doubt he was the leading clockmaker of his
day. He died in 1655.
RATCHET—The pawl, or dog, which engages in the teeth of a ratchet wheel
and prevents it from turning backward. It is held lightly against the
periphery of the ratchet wheel by a small spring known as the ratchet
spring.
[Illustration]
RATCHET WHEEL—A wheel with triangular teeth fixed on to an arbor to
prevent the latter from turning backward. The fronts of the teeth are
radial, the backs straight lines running from the tip of one tooth to
the base of the next. In going-barrel, keyless watches the ratchet has
epicycloidal teeth. By "the ratchet" in a watch, chronometer or clock
with mainspring is meant the ratchet fastened to the barrel arbor to
prevent the mainspring from slipping back when it is being wound.
RECOIL—In recoil escapements the pallets not only stop the escape wheel
but actually turn it backward a slight distance. This backward motion
is called the recoil.
REGULATOR—1. A standard clock with compensated pendulum with which less
accurate movements are compared. 2. The lever in a watch by which the
curb-pins regulating the swing of the hairspring are shifted.
REMONTOIRE—An arrangement in the upper part of the going train by
which a weak spring is wound up or a small weight is lifted that
gives impulse to the escape wheel at short intervals. Its use is to
counteract the irregularities in impulse due to the coarse train, etc.
They are delicate and complicated and now superseded by the Double
Three-legged Gravity Escapement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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