G H

, the primitive or geometrical circle of the escape wheel; set the center of the protractor at

B

and mark off an angle of 30° on each side of the line of centers; this will give us the angles

A B E

and

A B F

together, forming the angle

F B E

of 60°, which represents from lock to lock of the pallets. Since the chord of the angle of 60° is equal to the radius of the circle, this gives us an easy means of verifying this angle by placing the compass at the points of intersection of