An Improved Rotary Pendulum Escapement.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Mar., 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
An Improved Rotary Pendulum Escapement.
A communication by J. CHRISTIAN BAUER, of Fürth, Bavaria, in the Empire of
Germany, Banker.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham in
the County of Warwick and 31 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention has for its object to afford a reliable mode of working rotary
pendulum escapements by the pallet which serves for conveying the movement of
the scape wheel to the pendulum being moved, not as in the present form of
construction in a straight line against the scape wheel, but in an arc of a circle,
and for this object oscillating in the plane of the scape wheel on a revoluble arbor
parallel to the arbor of said scape wheel.
In order to obtain this movement, the driving pallet is attached to one end of
a two armed lever mounted on the above mentioned revoluble arbor, which lever
on the other hand is connected with the rotary pendulum. The scape wheel has
also an anchor escapement provided with lifting and locking pallets, which anchor
may be released by means of a special mechanism operated by the revoluble arbor
of the driving pallet.
In the accompanying drawing, Figures 1 to 8 show two forms of construction
of a rotary pendulum escapement operating in the above manner, in one form of
construction (Figures 1-4) the scape wheel being vertically arranged, and in
another form of construction (Figures 5-8) horizontally.
The first mentioned form of construction consists as follows:-
The driving pallet i is mounted on the lower end of the two-armed lever h
oscillating in a vertical plane, the horizontal axis of rotation of said lever being
parallel to that of the scape wheel a lying beneath it. The upper end of this
lever is connected with a second double armed lever (Fig. 4) by means of
toothed segments and n¹, said lever n being revoluble on the arbor m and
carrying at the opposite end a pin o hanging vertically downwards. By means
of a fork p attached to the balance spring and embracing the pin o, the connection
of the lever n with the balance spring is established in the ordinary manner. Thus
the movement of the scape wheel is transferred to the pendulum by means of the
pallet and lever h oscillating on the arbor g, toothed segments n¹ and
lever n.
The escapement takes place by means of an anchor b which oscillates in the
plane of the scape wheel a on an arbor d, and in the position shown in Figure 1,
engages with its locking pallet the tooth I of the scape wheel. The rear
end of the anchor, on the other side of the point of oscillation, is connected by
means of a pin with the rear end of a lever carrying a counterweight e (Fig. 4)
said counterweight lever e oscillating on the arbor d, by means of which counter-
weight the anchor is turned on its arbor d so as to move with its pallets
downwards, that is to say, with the locking pallet & against the scape wheel a, the
lifting pallet 6' of the anchor being also pressed downwards by the descending scape
wheel tooth.

page_text: The releasing mechanism, in the form of a lever c, is revolubly arranged ou
the pin, which lever is retained in the position shown in Figures 1 and 2 by
means of a small counterweight c'. It embraces with its forked part c¹ c² the
arbor d and is thereby limited in its movement of oscillation on f. The
upwardly directed arm of the releasing mechanism is subjected to the action of
a finger k arranged on lever h and oscillating with this latter on the arbor g.
The escapement herein before described works in the following manner :-
In consequence of the pendulum oscillations transmitted by means of the toothed
segments to the double lever A, an engagement is effected similar to that
of cogwheels between the pallet i and the scape wheel a, and simultaneously an
action of the finger k is produced on the releasing arm 3. On a change from
the position shown in Figure 1, to that shown in Figure 2, the arm eis first,
by means of the finger k, turned on the pin f so far that the arm c² encounters
the arbor d.
On further rotation of the finger k, the pin f, overcoming the effect of the
counterweight e, will be moved round the supporting point formed by the arbor d,
that is to say, will be moved downwards. Hereby in consequence of the connection
of the anchor with the pin, a turning of the anchor on the arbor d will be
effected, and the scape wheel tooth I will be released (see Figure 2). Simul-
taneously the pallet i will rest in front of the tooth II and receive by this an
impulse which is transmitted to the rotary pendulum by means of the toothed
segments n³ ³
On the subsequent oscillation of the pendulum in an opposite direction (Figure 3)
the anchor is then turned back by means of the weight e, that is to say, is pressed
with the locking pallet against the scape wheel, and the finger k then turns the
lever c, c³, downwards on the pin f within the limits determined by the fork c'e
whereupon, after the releasing of the arm c³ by the weight e, the former position
(Figure 1) is again attained. The movement hereinbefore described is repeated
at each oscillation.
In the form of construction shown in Figures 5-8, as mentioned at the
commencement of this specification, the scape wheel, and consequently also the
lever carrying the driving pallet i, is arranged horizontally. The pin o, serving
for operating the rotary pendulum, is, in this case, directly attached to the lever,
so that the transfer gearing a necessary for the form of construction previously
described, is omitted. Otherwise, the transfer of movement from the scape
wheel to the rotary pendulum takes place in a similar manner to that already
described.
The anchor band the releasing mechanism, in consequence of the horizontal
arrangement, need no longer be operated by means of weights, as shown in
Figures 1-, but in place thereof, springs may be employed, and this part of the
escapement is arranged as follows:-
The anchor &, provided with a lifting pallet & and locking pallet , is mounted
on an arbor d arranged in the horizontal plates A¹ A2, and together with the
locking pallet is pressed against the scape wheel by means of a spring a bearing
with its free end against a pin e' attached to the anchor. The releasing arm c is
also mounted in this case on the same arbor as the anchor b and said arm, in the
position shown in Figure 5, (in which the locking pallet rests against the tooth I)
is limited in its movement by a pin r mounted on the plate A¹.
A second springs is attached to the releasing arm c, which spring with its
loose end bears on the finger k mounted on the arbor g, this free end a projecting
somewhat over the arm. If the lever h, together with the finger k, swing in the
direction shown by the arrow in Figures 5 and 6, the spring 4, which is fixed by
means of the set screw t, is thereby pushed aside, and by that means the releasing
arme, together with the anchor, is so far turned on the arbor d that the tooth 1
is released, whilst, on the contrary, the tooth II is caused to rest behind the
pallet and impart an impulse to the latter. As soon as by this rotation, the
finger comes out of contact with the end of the springs, the, anchor,

page_text: together with the releasing arm, turns back into the former position shown in
Figure 5.
On the pendulum (Figure 7) swinging back again, the finger k raises the spring s
from the set screw t, whilst the releasing arm c supported by the pin
stationary. When the finger k comes out of engagement with the ends of the
spring, the spring returns to its stationary position (Figures 5 and 6) and the
action hereinbefore described is repeated on the reversal of the direction of rotation
of the pendulum.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
A rotary pendulum escapement, characterised by the driving pallet (i) being
mounted to oscillate on an arbor parallel to the arbor of the scape wheel in order
to obtain a segmental engagement, whilst the escapement of the scape wheel is
effected by means of an anchor (b) oscillating in the plane of said scape wheel
and provided with lifting and locking pallets, substantially as hereinbefore
described.
Dated this 21st day of March 1896
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.