IMPROVEMENTS IN ESCAPEMENTS FOR CHRONOMETERS AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Morton, of Keighley, in the County of York,
Watchmaker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ESCAPEMENTS FOR
CHRONOMETERS AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS."
Sealed the 7th April 1857, and dated the 17th October 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Morton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
October 1856.
I, GEORGE MORTON, of Keighley, in the County of York, Watchmaker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ESCAPEMENTS FOR CHRONOMETERS AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS," to be as follows:-:
I make the scape wheel by preference of steel, with teeth cut of the same
shape as the clock "recoil escapement," and the impluse is given to a pallet on
the balance staff (as in the ordinary chronometer), but instead of 'locking
the escapement by the detent spring, the scape wheel is locked on the outer
and inner flanches of a hollow cylinder; cut nearly half way through.. On the
extremity of each flanch rubies are inserted of suitable shape for the wheel
teeth to rest upon when locked. The locking and unlocking is performed by
a ruby, shaped like the tooth of a spur wheel, of the best form, carried by
a roller fixed on the balance axis, which works in two steel pins tempered.
These pins are inserted in a piece of steel fixed on the cylinder axis and
pointing towards the balance staff. The action of the escapement is thus:-
When the balance moves in one direction (to the right) the toothed-shaped

page_text: ruby enters between the steel pins and turns the cylinder a short distance
round, thereby unlocking the scape wheel tooth; another tooth gives the
impluse to the pallet on the balance axis which is in position and ready to
receive it; when the balance is liberated, the tooth that before escaped from
the outside of the cylinder falls on the inside flanch, and remains there until
the return of the balance to the left, (that is, after having completed its
motion in the opposite direction,) when the tooth-shaped ruby again enters
the pins and unlocks the tooth from the inside of the cylinder, the next tooth
then drops on the outer flanch of the cylinder, wlien the action is repeated,
and so on.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Morton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th April 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
MORTON, of Keighley, in the County of York, Watchmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Morton, Her special licence that I, the said George Morton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Morton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ESCAPE-
MENTS FOR CHRONOMETERS AND OTHER TIMEKEEPERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said George Morton, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Morton, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
My Invention relates to improvements in escapements for chronometers and
other timekeepers, and is as follows:-
I make the scape wheel by preference of steel, with the teeth cut of the
same shape as the clock "recoil escapement," and the impulse is given to
a pallet on the balance staff (as in the ordinary chronometer), but instead of
locking the escapement by the detent spring, as in the chronometer, the scape
wheel is locked on the outer and inner flanches of a hollow cylinder, cut nearly
half way through. On the extremity of each flanch or terminal edge of the
cylinder rubies are inserted of suitable shape for the wheel teeth to rest upon
when locked. The locking and unlocking is performed by a ruby, shaped like
the tooth of a spur wheel, of the best form, carried by a roller fixed on the
balance axis, which works between two steel-tempered pins. These pins aro
inserted in a steel lever or arm fixed on the cylinder axis and pointing towards
the balance staff. The action of the escapement is this: When the balance
moves in one direction, say (to the right) the the toothed-shaped ruby
enters between the steel pins and turns the cylinder a short distance round,
thereby unlocking the scape wheel tooth; another tooth of the scape wheel
then gives the impulse to the pallet on the balance axis, which is in position
and ready to receive it; when the balance is liberated the tooth that escaped
from the outside of the cylinder falls on the inside flange or part of the
cylinder, and remains there until the return of the balance to the left, which.
return is produced by the force of the balance spring, that is, after having
completed its motion to the right, when the tooth-shaped ruby again enters
the pins and unlocks the tooth from the inside of the cylinder, the next
tooth then drops on to the outer flanch of the cylinder with a short drop, when
the action is repeated, and so on, in succession. With this escapement I
attain all the accuracy of action of the chronometer escapement, but without
that delicacy of the parts so essential to the action of those escapements,
which renders them unfit for ordinary pocket watches, whereas this my.
improved escapement may be used for chronometers, or in ordinary. pocket
watches, or other timekeepers.
And in order that the same may be fully understood and carried into
practical effect, I have hereto annexed a Sheet of Drawings, referred to by
letters marked herein.

page_text: Fig. 1 represents a plan of my improved escapement; Fig. 2, an edge view..
of the parts with the escape wheel in dotted line; while Fig. 3 represents
a transverse section through the escape wheel, and the half cylinder forming
the pallets, into which it takes.
A is the escape wheel; B, the hollow half cylinder, forming the pallets on:
which the teeth of the escape wheel A rest alternately; C is the balance staff
or arbor, upon which a roller D is placed, carrying a tooth-shaped ruby a, by
which motion is given to the half cylinder B to produce its oscillations. The
balf cylinder B is mounted on an axis b, which carries a lever or arm. E,
by which the motion is transmitted from the tooth a to the cylinder B. The
motion of this lever. E and half. cylinder B is similar to the ordinary lever
escapement, but with this difference in its action, that no impulse is transmitted
from the escape wheel A through the lever E, it being simply to impart the
motion to the half cylinder, acting as the detent or stop pallets of: the
scape wheel. Two tempered steel pins c, c, project on the side of lever E,
between which the tooth a enters when moving round on the side next .the
cylinder B, and during which it transfers the lever from the position shown in.
line to the dotted position, and during that movement the ruby pallet .e.
suffers the escape wheel A-to drop a tooth. d is the impulse pallet which
receives the impulse from the scape wheel A; this pallet is a ruby fixed in the.
large roller D on the balance axis or staff. Rubies are affixed at the contact.
points of B, that is to say, at e on the outside where the tooth 1 of the escape
wheel is resting, and inside at f, where the same tooth will rest and stop when.
it drops from e. The action is this:-Supposing the balance wheel to be moving.
from left to right, as marked by the black arrow, as the tooth a moves round it.
énters between the pins c, c.. This tooth a carries the lever E. towards its dotted.
position, and during its movement the pins c, c, are received within the hollow
in the roller D in which the tooth is placed; when the lever E approaches the
position shown red the tooth-1 is released from the ruby, pallet e...When this.
occurs the pallet d arrives at the dotted position d, and immediately the
tooth 1 is free from ruby e the tooth 2 drops on the impulse pallet drin.
the position d', bearing against that pallet until the tooth 1 is arrested. by..
ruby f on the inside of the cylinder B, when the scape wheel A remains in the
position shewn dotted; thus the pallet d receives the impulse of tooth.2 till it
arrives at the dotted position 2. During the time tooth .1 rests on ruby f, as.
shown dotted, the balance carries lever E to the dotted position, and completes
its revolution from left to right; it then returns by the force of the balance

page_text: spring, and brings back the lever towards the red position by the tooth.a, again
entering between; the pins c, c, (it having left them. to complete its revolution:to
the right). The action of the tooth a and pins c, c, are precisely similar to the
action of the "roller pin" and fork of the lever escapement which I have substi
tuted in the other Figures, showing a modification of my Invention in Figs. 4
and 5. The pins c, c, bank against the periphery of the small roller D. in case
of a shake, or contrary motion, in order to keep the lever E steady when tho
tooth d leaves. the pins. When the lever E approaches the position shown
red, the tooth at 1 is liberated by the ruby pallet f, when the next tooth in
succession (shown dotted), falls on the ruby c, allowing the escape wheck
to make a very short movement, the balance swings: round carrying, the pallet
d, but in moving from right to left (in the direction of red arrow). this pallet
passes clear of the teeth of the escape wheel, which, at the time of its passing
those teeth, is in the position indicated in line.. The tooth of the escape.wheel
rests on ruby pallete until the return movement of the balance, when another
impulse will be given to the pallet d in the saine direction; and. as; before
described: Thus it will be seen that the impulse. is imparted to the balance
only during its 'motion in one direction, and that such impulse is communicated:
during a long drop or movement, nearly the distance of one tooth of the escape
wheel to another; while the drop or movement, of, the escape wheel during tho
reverse motion of the balance is, very: short, and imparts no, impulse to
the balance. By this means great regularity of action is ensured, while the
escapement is more detached and more free to perform its evolutions than
ordinary escapements other than chronometer escapements. g. 9, are stop
pins to limit the motion of--the lever E.. The rubies c and f being portions
of circles described from the axis: 6, the oscillatory motion of the cylinder
merely retain the teeth of the, escape wheel, and do not impart any force
or motion to the balance wheel, the rubies merely rolling on those teeth
while the cylinder is in motion; when released from the ruby f the tooth
drops from the dotted position to the position in line, and makes the short
drop on the ruby e, which arrives in time to stop it suddenly. The pallet f
is interposed at the same time that pallet e is withdrawn from the tooth to
make the long drop, during which it gives the impulse to the balance staff, as
before described.
Fig. 4 represents a plan, and Fig. 5 a side view, of an escapement con-
structed according to my Invention, and a modification of the foregoing.
A is the escape wheel; B, the detent pallet carrier, which, instead of a half
cylinder, I form as represented, it being more easy to jewel than the small
cylinder before described, but I adhere to the same form of the ruby pallets

page_text: e and f, that is to say, they are sections or portions of a cylinder described
from the axis b.. In this case I make the pallets e and fembrace two teeth,.
the long drop and the short drop are, however, regulated precisely the same-
as before. In this example I have represented the ruby pin a instead of
the tooth, as before described, whichi actuates the lever by entering the fork c, c,
and controlling its motions exactly: as before described. The ruby pallet d.
receives its impulse in the position d', and during the drop of the tooth 2 to.
the dotted: position 2. In this case tooth 1 dropping from detente does not.
fall directly on to detent f, there being a tooth. intermediate of the pallets e:
and f; the long and the short drop, are, however, precisely the same as before
described during the same motions of the balance wheel, and therefore need.
not be repeated:
Having described the nature of my Invention and the manner of performing.
the same;. I declare that what I claim as my Invention is,-.
I claim the combination and arrangement of parts, herein-before described,
forming an escapement for chronometers and other timekeepers, in, which the
impulse is given direct by the scape wheel to a pallet on the balance staff, and
the scape wheel opened and shut. or. detained and released. by a key or lever, as.
herein-before described.
In witness wliereof, I; the said George Morton, have hereunto set my
liand and seal, this Fourteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
GEORGE MUKION.
(L.S.).