Watch and Clock Escapements / A Complete Study in Theory and Practice of the Lever, Cylinder and Chronometer Escapements, Together with a Brief Account of the Origin and Evolution of the Escapement in Horology

by Anonymous

Now, when we adopt circular pallets and carry the locking face of the entrance pallet around to the left two and a half degrees, the true center for the pallet staff, if we employ tangent lockings, would be located on a line drawn tangent to the circle a a from its intersection with the radial line A k, Fig. 21. Such a tangent is depicted at the line s l'. If we reason on the situation, we will see that the line A k is not at right angles to the line s l; and, consequently, the locking face of the entrance pallet E has not really the twelve-degree lock we are taught to believe it has.

We will not discuss these minor points further at present, but leave them for subsequent consideration. We will say, however, that we could locate the center of the pallet action at the small circle B' above the center B, which we have selected as our fork-and-pallet action, and secure a perfectly sound escapement, with several claimed advantages.

Let us now take up the delineation of the exit pallet. It is very easy to locate the outer angle of this pallet, as this must be situated at the intersection of the addendum circle i and the arc g, and located at o. It is also self-evident that the inner or locking angle must be situated at some point on the arc h. To determine this location we draw the line B c from B (the pallet center) through the intersection of the arc h with the pitch circle a.

Again, it follows as a self-evident fact, if the pallet we are dealing with was locked, that is, engaged with the tooth D'', the inner angle n of the exit pallet would be one and a half degrees inside the pitch circle a. With the dividers set at 5", we sweep the short arc b b, and from the intersection of this arc with the line B c we lay off ten degrees, and through the point so established, from B, we draw the line B d. Below the point of intersection of the line B d with the short arc b b we lay off one and a half degrees, and through the point thus established we draw the line B e.

LOCATING THE INNER ANGLE OF THE EXIT PALLET.

The intersection of the line B e with the arc h, which we will term the point n, represents the location of the inner angle of the exit pallet. We have already explained how we located the position of the outer angle at o. We draw the line n o and define the impulse face of the exit pallet. If we mentally analyze the problem in hand, we will see that as the exit pallet vibrates through its ten degrees of arc the line B d and B c change places, and the tooth D'' locks one and a half degrees. To delineate the locking face of the exit pallet, we erect a perpendicular to the line B e from the point n, as shown by the line n p.

From n as a center we sweep the short arc t t, and from its intersection with the line n p we lay off twelve degrees, and through the point so established we draw the line n u, which defines the locking face of the exit pallet. We draw the line o o' parallel with n u and define the outer face of said pallet. In Fig. 21 we have not made any attempt to show the full outline of the pallets, as they are delineated in precisely the same manner as those previously shown.

We shall next describe the delineation of a club-tooth escapement with pallets having equidistant locking faces; and in Fig. 22 we shall show pallets with much wider arms, because, in this instance, we shall derive more of the impulse from the pallets than from the teeth. We do this to show the horological student the facility with which the club-tooth lever escapement can be manipulated. We wish also to impress on his mind the facts that the employment of thick pallet arms and thin pallet arms depends on the teeth of the escape wheel for its efficiency, and that he must have knowledge enough of the principles of action to tell at a glance on what lines the escapement was constructed.

Suppose, for illustration, we get hold of a watch which has thin pallet arms, or stones, if they are exposed pallets, and the escape was designed for pallets with thick arms. There is no sort of tinkering we can do to give such a watch a good motion, except to change either the escape wheel or the pallets. If we know enough of the lever escapement to set about it with skill and judgment, the matter is soon put to rights; but otherwise we can look and squint, open and close the bankings, and tinker about till doomsday, and the watch be none the better.