f B have springs set on them to diminish the blow on the scape-wheel arbor, as it is desirable not to have the fly so large as to make the motion of the train, and consequently of the hands, too slow, to be distinct.
Another kind of remontoire is on the principle of one bevelled wheel lying between two others at right angles to it. The first of the bevelled wheels is driven by the train, and the third is fixed to the arbor of the scape-wheel; and the intermediate bevelled wheel, of any size, rides on its arbor at right angles to the other two arbors which are in the same line. The scape-wheel will evidently turn with the same average velocity as the first bevelled wheel, though the intermediate one may move up and down at intervals. The transverse arbor which carries it is let off and lifted a little at half-minute intervals, as in the remontoire just now described; and it gradually works down as the scape-wheel turns under its pressure, until it is freed again and lifted by the clock-train.
 Fig. 16.—Spring Remontoire. |
In all these gravity remontoires, however, only the friction of the heavy parts of the train and the dial-work is got rid of, and the scape-wheel is still subject to the friction of the remontoire wheels, which, though much less than the other, is still something considerable. Accordingly, attempts have frequently been made to drive the scape-wheel by a spiral spring, like the mainspring of a watch. One of these was described in the 7th edition of this encyclopaedia; and Sir G. Airy invented another on the same principle, of which one specimen is still going well. One of the best forms of such a remontoire is shown in fig. 16, in which A, B, D, E, e, f are the same things as in fig. 15. But e, the scape-wheel pinion, is no longer fixed to the arbor, nor does it ride on the arbor, as had been the case in all the previous spring remontoires, thereby producing probably more friction than was saved in other respects; but it rides on a stud k, which is set in the clock frame. On the face of the pinion is a plate, of which the only use is to carry a pin h (and consequently its shape is immaterial), and in front of the plate is set a bush b, with a hole through it, of which half is occupied by the end of the stud k, to which the bush is fixed by a small pin, and the other half is the pivot-hole for the scape-wheel arbor. On the arbor is set the remontoire spring s (a moderate-sized musical-box spring is generally used), of which the outer end is bent into a loop to take hold of the pin h. In fact, there are two pins at h, one a little behind the other, to keep the coils of the spring from touching each other. Now, it is evident that the spring may be wound up half or a quarter of a turn at the proper intervals without taking the force off the scape-wheel, and also without affecting it by any friction whatever. When the scape-wheel turns in a minute, the letting-off would be done as before described, by a couple of notches in the scape-wheel arbor, through which the spikes A, B, as in fig. 15, would pass alternately. During the half-minute that the spring is running down the impulse on the pendulum constantly diminishes; but this error is small if the spring be properly shaped, and besides, being periodic, does not affect the average time-keeping of the clock. It would be inadmissible in astronomical clocks where each particular second has always to be true. In clocks with only three wheels in the train it is best to make the scape-wheel turn in two minutes. In that case four notches and four remontoire arms are required, and the fly makes only a quarter of a turn. Lord Grimthorpe made the following provision for diminishing the friction of the letting-off work. The fly pinion f has only half the number of teeth of the scape-wheel pinion, being a lantern pinion of 7 or 8, while the other is a leaved pinion of 14 or 16, and therefore the same wheel D will properly drive both, as will be seen hereafter. The scape-wheel arbor ends in a cylinder about 58 in. in diameter, with two notches at right angles cut in its face, one of them narrow and deep, and the other broad and shallow, so that a long and thin pin B can pass only through one, and a broad and short pin A through the other. Consequently, at each quarter of a turn of the scape-wheel, the remontoire fly, on which the pins A, B are set on springs, as in fig. 15, can turn half round. It is set on its arbor f by a square ratchet and click, which enables the spring to be adjusted to the requisite tension to obtain the proper vibration of the pendulum. A better construction, afterwards introduced, is to make the fly separate from the letting-off arms, whereby the blow on the cylinder is diminished, the fly being allowed to go on as in the gravity escapement. It should be observed, however, that even a spring remontoire requires a larger weight than the same clock without one; but as none of that additional force reaches the pendulum, that is of no consequence. The variation of force of the remontoire spring from temperature, as it only affects the pendulum through the medium of the dead escapement, is far too small to produce any appreciable effect; and it is found that clocks of this kind, with a compensated pendulum 8 ft. long, and weighing about 2 cwt., will not vary above a second a month, if the pallets are kept clean and well oiled. No turret clock without either a train remontoire or a gravity escapement will approach that degree of accuracy.
The introduction of this remontoire led to another very important alteration in the construction of large clocks. Hitherto it had always been considered necessary, with a view to diminish the friction as far as possible, to make the wheels of brass or gun-metal, with the teeth cut in an engine. The French clockmakers had begun to use cast iron striking parts, and cast iron wheels had been occasionally used in the going part of inferior clocks for the sake of cheapness; but they had never been used in any clock making pretensions to accuracy. But in consequence of the success of a clock shown in the 1851 Exhibition, it was determined by Sir G. Airy and Lord Grimthorpe (then E. Denison), who were jointly consulted by the Board of Works about the great Westminster clock in 1852, to alter the original requisition for gun-metal wheels there to cast iron. But cast iron wheels must drive cast iron pinions, for they will wear out steel.
Fig. 17.—Mudge’s Gravity Escapement.Fig. 18.—Bloxam’s Gravity Escapement.
The next kind of remontoire still leaves the scape-wheel linked up with the clock-train, but makes it wind up the pallets which are held raised up till their action is wanted, when they are allowed to drop gently on the crutch or the pendulum rod. In this case the two arms of the anchor are usually divided and mounted on separate shafts so as to act independently. This idea was first started by Thomas Mudge (1717–1794) and Alexander Cumming (1733–1814). Mudge’s escapement is shown in fig. 17. Gravity escapements.The tooth A of the scape-wheel is resting against the stop or detent a at the end of the pallet CA, from the axis or arbor of which descends the half-fork CP to touch the pendulum. From the other pallet CB descends the other half-fork CO. The two arbors are set as near the point of suspension, or top of the pendulum spring, as possible. The pendulum, as here represented, must be moving to the right, and just leaving contact with the left pallet and going to take up the right one; as soon as it has raised that pallet a little it will evidently unlock the wheel and let it turn, and then the tooth B will raise the left pallet until it is caught by the stop b on that pallet, and then it will stay until the pendulum returns and releases it by raising that pallet still higher. Each pallet therefore descends with the pendulum to a lower point than that where it is taken up, and the difference between them is supplied by the lifting of each pallet by the clock, which does not act on the pendulum at all; so that the pendulum is independent of all variations of force and friction in the train. This escapement is said by Lord Grimthorpe, in his Rudimentary Treatise on Clocks, first published in 1850, to be liable to trip, the pallets being apt to be jerked by the pendulum, so that the teeth slip past the hook, and the wheel flies round. This, however, appears entirely a matter of construction. The really weak point is that while the impulses on the pendulum due to the gravitational fall of the arms are uniform, the force which has to be exercised by the pendulum in unlocking them from the scape-wheel varies with the pressure of the clock-train. Hence we miss the compensation which is so beautiful a result of Graham’s escapement. To avoid this, J. M. Bloxam, a barrister, proposed about the middle of the 19th century his legged gravity escapement (fig. 18). By this arrangement the parts of the scape-wheel which
