A NEW OR IMPROVED ESCAPEMENT FOR CLOCKS, WATCHES, AND CHRONOMETERS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SETHI
IIUNT, of the United States of America, now residing in Covent Garden, in
the County of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
; WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of
May, in the fifty-seventh year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the said
Seth. Hunt; my exors, adiñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Seth Hunt, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term of years therein
mentioned, make, use, exercise, aud vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention communicated to me by a
certain Foreigner residing abroad, of "A NEW OR IMPROVED ESCAPEMENT FOR
CLOCKS, WATCHES, AND CHRONOMETERS ;" in which said Letters Patent there is
contained a proviso that if I, the said Seth Hunt, shall not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, shall forthwith cease, determine, and become void,

page_text: as in and by the same, relation being.thereunto had, may more and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Seth Hunt, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described and
ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
The machinery composing the said New or Improved Escapement for
Clocks, Watches, and Chronometers, consists of four principal. members,
exclusive of the escape wheel A and balance T, fitted on a verge with two
moveable pallets L and M. They may be placed between the plates of the
frame or on the outside of that one over which the balance commonly
vibrates; the latter situation is however to be preferred.
The first member is a spring catch, marked with the letter B on the annexed
Drawing; it is made fast to the plate above named, and in such a situation as
to hold the teeth. of the escape wheel marked A, the projection or catch C on
the said spring taking hold of or locking the teeth of the said wheel as they
successively come in contact with it.
The second member is a lever, placed horizontally, of the shape. represented
on the aforesaid Drawing, and marked with the letter D (its two teeth E and F
are essential to its action). This lever works on an arbor or axis placed about
two thirds the distance from the end of the said lever. next: the escape:
wheel;
it is brought to a balance or poise on its pivots by the weight of the ball.or
crescent S, but which may be of any other proper shape. The lever as often
as it is disengaged from the catch H in the spring. G is moved downward by:
the force of the spring marked K in the annexed Drawing. It is by the
power derived from the strength of this spring that the lever is enabled to
give the balance its impulse, and instantly after disengage the catch C.from
off the tooth of the escape wheel by the heel of the said lever R falling on the
end of the spring B at N. The extremity of the said lever next the escape
wheel has two teeth or projections marked E and F, the tooth F extending
outward toward the escape wheel, and which is acted upon by the teeth of the
said escape wheel to carry the lever (when down) up into the catch H or the
spring G, where it is detained by a pin fixed on its under side at I, resting on
the said catch H until released by the lower pallet of the verge of the balance.
The other projection or tooth E extends inward towards the upper pallet on
the verge of the said balance, to which it constantly gives an uniform impulse
by falling on it as often as it is disengaged from the catch H or the spring G
by the lower pallet, which it regularly is once-during every compleat vibration

page_text: of the balance; or in place of the lever D.a.spring may be used, preserving.the
same shape, action, and position, and attached. by a screw to the upper plate,
in which case the spring K must be dispensed with.
::
The third. member is.a spring, marked G;-it nearly resembles the locking
spring of a common detached chronometer, escapement. This spring is made
fast to the upper plate in a proper situation. It has a triangular catch at H
on its upper side which receives the pin placed on the under side of the lever
at I...Immediately that tho lever, is at rest in the said catch the upright tooth
of the escape wheel passes off-from the outward tooth or projection F on the
end.of the said lever..
'
The fourth. member is, a spring, marked K (in which resides the maintaining
power); it may be either straight, spiral, or curved. Its position on the plate
and place of action on the lever may be somewhat varied, and produce the
same effect. One end of this spring is made fast to the upper plate, the
other acts against a pin near the arbor of the said lever, as represented.at..Q
and which. may be fixed either on its upper or lower side. The aforesaid
spring K, whatever be its form, should have sufficient strength to be capable of
carrying down the lever (when disengaged from the catch H) with such force
as to enable it to give the balance its necessary impulse, and at the .instant
after to drive out the catch C which holds or locks the tooth of the escapo
wheel as before described, but the said spring should not be so strong as to
counteract the action of the escape wheel when carrying up the lever into the
catch H on the spring G. O is a stud and screw to adjust the depth of the
catch on the teeth of the escape wheel...P, a stud and screw to .prevent
the lever falling too far. It will be most convenient that the wheels.com-
posing the train of the watches and chronometers should be horizontal. The
escape wheel may be similar to the common rotch wheel of a chronometer,
but a duplex wheel is to be preferred. The balance spring may be either
spiral or heliacal, as may best suit the size of the watch or chronometer. It
is not intended to apply the said escapement to any other clocks except those
moved by springs and balances.
:
Having thus described the several members and combinations of 'the said
escapement in their connection with the escape wheel- and balance, the following
will serve to explain its action, viz:-The balance being put in motion from the
situation, as represented in the annexed Drawing, the lower pallet M comes
in contact with the end of the passing spring J on the spring G; disengages the
lever D from the catch H, when it is carried down with considerable force by
the power of the spring K acting upon it, giving an impulse to the balance
by its inner tooth or projection E falling on the upper pallet L, and the heel

page_text: of the lever D at R instantly after striking upon the tail end of the spring
Bat N, disengages the catch Ċ from its liold on the tooth of the said escape
wheel, which, being thus released, the tooth of the said escape wheel next below
the outward tooth or projection F of the said lever takes hold of it, and
'carries the lever D up again into a position of rest in the catch H on the
spring Gas before. This movement constitutes one complete action or
revolution of the said escapement.
I desire that the annexed Drawing, representing the said escapement, may
be received as forming a part of my Specification, and that no doubt may exist
as to the extent and nature of the claims which I make as to the originality of
the aforesaid escapement. I hereby declare that I make no claim to anything
nis being new in the form of the springs B, G, and K, or the escape wheel,
ballance verge, and pallets; but I do claim that the form of the said lever D;
and its connection or combination with an action upon and with the other
members, and the escape wheel and ballance, for the purpose of obtaining
a correct vibration, is new in that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Seth Hunt, have hereunto set my hand