IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS OR TIME- KEEPERS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Sant, of Norton Lodge, Mumbles,
Swansea, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS OR TIME-
KEEPERS."
Sealed the 18th November 1853, and dated the 18th May 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Sant at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1853.
I, GEORGE SANT, of Norton Lodge, Mumbles, Swansea, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOCKS OR
TIME-KEEPERS" to be as follows:----
This Invention consists of applying to the pendulum an escape-
ment wheel which vibrates with the pendulum, and a tooth of the
escapement wheel is allowed to escape each vibration by means of a
fixed incline and a locking pin; and in order to give motion to the next
or minute wheel the escapement wheel on the pendulum, by a projec-
tion, releases a detent, and allows one tooth of the next or minute wheel

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.
filed by the said George Sant in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 18th November 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I.
GEORGE SANT, late of Norton Lodge, Mumbles, Swansea, but now of
Kiston, near Bromley, in the County of Kent, send greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for-Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Sant, Her special licence
that I, the said George Sant; my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said George Sant, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 CLOCKS
OR TIME-KEEPERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Sant, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Paterit.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Sant, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof (that is to say):
This Invention consists of applying to the pendulum an escapement

page_text: wheel which vibrates with the pendulum, and a tooth of the escapement
wheel is allowed to escape each vibration by means of a fixed incline
and a locking pin. And in order to give motion to the next or minute
wheel the escapement wheel on the pendulum, by a projection, releases
a detent, and allows one tooth of the next or minute wheel to move
every minute, at the same time the reaction of the detent keeps up the
power to the pendulum, and from this wheel the other motions of the
clock or time-keeper are derived.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe the manner in which I perform the same.
The wheel A, is furnished with sixty pins, as shewn in Figure 1, two
of which are introduced at B, and C, to show their action on D, and
E. F, is the pendulum carrying the wheel G, of thirty pins in front, and
one N; at back, and also the metal plate D. H, is a locking. pin (a
plan of this with wheel G, &., is shewn in Figure 2,) made in one
piece, and attached to framework or case by I. (The same parts in
Figures, 1, and 2, have the same letters.) L, is a beam carrying the
steel plate E, on which each pin of the wheel A, impinges and rests
immediately after having given an impulse to the pendulum through
D. This heam and the pendulum are both furnished with light springs
L', F, similar to those usually employed in the suspension of pendulums.
A, (assuming the pendulum to beat seconds) makes one revolution in
an hour, and the wheel G, one in a minute: The action is as follows:-
The pendulum F, which, is, drawn at the left-hand extremity of its are
of vibration, in its return swing to, the right, carries the pin O, of the
wheel G, against and up the right; incline of the locking pin H, the
effect of which is the of a revolution of the wheel G, in the
direction indicated by arrow and the fall of the pin N, (driven into back
thereof) into a line joining the axis of the wheel G, with K. In this
position, and just before the pendulum has completed its right oscilla-
tion, it will be carried against the head of K, which is a projecting
pin attached to L, and forcing it to the right causes E, of the beam L,
to liberate the pin B, of the wheel A. At the time of this liberation
(the pendulum being to the right as described), D), the metal plate

page_text: attached to pendulum, will be between the pins C, and B, so that
the pin C, (the wheel A, being free to move in consequence of said
liberation) falling on plate D, will give to the pendulum, in its return
swing to the left, an impulse in that direction, the impulse of course
being given by and lasting during the passage of the pin C, down the
incline of the plate D. It will be seen on reference to the Drawing
that the pin N, leaves K, on return swing of pendulum to the left, in
time to allow the plate E, (which it will be remembered it removed to
liberate the pin it supports) to take the position shewn before the pins
of the wheel A, leave the incline of D; in other words, E, returns to
the position shewn in Drawing before the pin immediately above it quits
the metal plate D. At every double vibration of the pendulum the
locking pin H, moves the wheel G, through a 3 of a revolution, so
that the pin N, of wheel G, in its next swing to the right, with the
pendulum, will be found to escape, K, passing below it. And travelling
with the wheel G, it will be seen that fifty-nine seconds or vibrations
will transpire before the pin N, is again thrown on K, and the series of
movements above described repeated. P, carries the minute hand.
The hour hand motion is got in the usual way. The Drawing is made
for a thirty hour clock. The weight W, hangs on an endless cord. To
wind up the clock the rope below the weight is held by one hand, while
the weight brought horizontally is slid up the rope, and when allowed
to drop into its vertical position the eye of the weight through which
the rope passes will offer a sufficient bite to the rope to prevent its
slipping or sliding thereon. By this arrangement all back or reverse
action during the time of winding is prevented.
Figure 3, shews a modification of the apparatus used for carrying
out the Invention. In this the beam I, is made to carry both metal
plates D, and E, as well as the wheel G. The locking pin H, is fixed to
the pendulum F. The pin N, is driven into the same side of the
wheel G, as that on which the thirty pins are fixed; with this exception,
the wheels G, are alike in both Figures. When this pin N, has
travelled to that point lying in the path described by the locking pin
H, H, in its swing to the left impinges on it, when follow those actions

page_text: with the wheel A, and metal plates D, and E, an explanation of which
is hardly necessary after the observations already given respecting
Figure 1.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Sant, have hereunto set
iny hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of November, in the
⚫ year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness to the signature, sealing,
and delivery hereof,
H. B. CLARKE,
GEO. SANT. (L.S.)
Sol, 14, Serjeants Inn, Fleet St.