Escapement

In our last episode your local horologist was contemplating Newton and how his famous force enabled  was presently unsuccessful in the proper operation of the so called Gravity clock.  As a brief reminder our round friend rides a metal rack and when raised to the top and released it should slowly descend along the rack over the course of a day. See the prior post for details. Except our chonky ticker wouldn't.  It mostly fell (well if allowed to). This burgeoning clockmaker had a sneaking suspicion of what lay underneath the dial and the nature of the problem.  No time like the present! The dial is retained with two screws (crude design says this clock snob) and when lifted up and away must be carefully snaked along the hole from which protrudes the pendulum (as there is no way to remove the pendulum first) for proper extrication. A confession.  That's actually not a pendulum in the strictest sense because it cannot swing independently from the movement. It's a...

Neighbor Chip the antiques dealer stopped by a few weeks back and placed a clock on the kitchen table.  Chip provided little information, playfully leaving it for his horologically obsessed neighbor to ascertain what's what. The next day this clock curious cat had it on the shop bench. Well, well, well. Your local horologist recognized this type of clock but had never seen one in the wild. It's known as a Gravity clock sometimes also referred to as a Saw or Sawtooth clock. Gravity clocks have been around for quite some time. Earliest examples reportedly go back to the 17th century.  Here  is a lovely example dated to 1829.  Don't let the "Anno 1750" fool you. Our example is a modern reproduction. Probably 1970's give or take.  Our gravity clock is quite small. The dial is just a bit over 3 inches in diameter. The pendulum itself is about 3.5 inches long. This clock hunter has never seen a clock with a pendulum that protrudes out from the top of the dial like t...