Watch and Clock Escapements. Anonymous
English edition, of more than his entire lock, or about two degrees. We make no apologies for calling attention to this mistake on the part of an authority holding so high a position on such matters as Mr. Grossman, because a mistake is a mistake, no matter who makes it.
We will say no more of this error at present, but will farther on show drawings of Mr. Grossman's faulty method, and also the correct method of drawing such a pallet. To delineate the locking face of our pallet, from the point formed by the intersection of the lines e g b b', Fig. 9, as a center, we draw the line j at an angle of twelve degrees to b b''. In doing this we employ the same method of establishing the angle as we made use of in drawing the lines e g and e h, Fig. 10. The line j establishes the locking face of the pallet B. Setting the locking face of the pallet at twelve degrees has been found in practice to give a safe "draw" to the pallet and keep the lever secure against the bank. It will be remembered the face of the escape-wheel tooth was drawn at twenty-four degrees to a radial line of the escape wheel, which, in this instance, is the line b b', Fig. 9. It will now be seen that the angle of the pallet just halves this angle, and consequently the tooth A only rests with its point on the locking face of the pallet. We do not show the outlines of the pallet B, because we have not so far pointed out the correct method of delineating it.
METHODS OF MAKING GOOD DRAWING INSTRUMENTS.
Perhaps we cannot do our readers a greater favor than to digress from the study of the detached lever escapement long enough to say a few words about drawing instruments and tablets or surfaces on which to delineate, with due precision, mechanical designs or drawings. Ordinary drawing instruments, even of the higher grades, and costing a good deal of money, are far from being satisfactory to a man who has the proper idea of accuracy to be rated as a first-class mechanic. Ordinary compasses are obstinate when we try to set them to the hundredth of an inch; usually the points are dull and ill-shapen; if they make a puncture in the paper it is unsightly.
Watchmakers have one advantage, however, because they can very easily work over a cheap set of drawing instruments and make them even superior to anything they can buy at the art stores. To illustrate, let us take a cheap pair of brass or German-silver five-inch dividers and make them over into needle points and "spring set." To do this the points are cut off at the line a a, Fig 11, and a steel tube is gold-soldered on each leg. The steel tube is made by taking a piece of steel wire which will fit a No. 16 chuck of a Whitcomb lathe, and drilling a hole in the end about one-fourth of an inch deep and about the size of a No. 3 sewing needle. We Show at Fig. 12 a view of the point A', Fig. 11, enlarged, and the steel tube we have just drilled out attached at C. About the best way to attach C is to solder. After the tube C is attached a hole is drilled through A' at d, and the thumb-screw d inserted. This thumb-screw should be of steel, and hardened and tempered. The use of this screw is to clamp the needle point. With such a device as the tube C and set-screw d, a No. 3 needle is used for a point; but for drawings on paper a turned point, as shown at Fig 13, is to be preferred. Such points can be made from a No. 3 needle after softening enough to be turned so as to form the point c. This point at the shoulder f should be about 12/1000 of an inch, or the size of a fourth-wheel pivot to an eighteen size movement.
The idea is, when drawing on paper the point c enters the paper. For drawing on metal the form of the point is changed to a simple cone, as shown at B' c, Fig. 13. such cones can be turned carefully, then hardened and tempered to a straw color; and when they become dull, can be ground by placing the points in a wire chuck and dressing them up with an emery buff or an Arkansas slip. The opposite leg of the dividers is the one to which is attached the spring for close setting of the points.
In making this spring, we take a piece of steel about two and one-fourth inches long and of the same width as the leg of the divider, and attach it to the inside of the leg as shown at Fig. 14, where D represents the spring and A the leg of the dividers. The spring D has a short steel tube C'' and set-screw d'' for a fine point like B or B'. In the lower end of the leg A, Fig. 14, is placed the milled-head screw g, which serves to adjust the two points of the dividers to very close distances. The spring D is, of course, set so it would press close to the leg A if the screw g did not force it away.
SPRING AND ADJUSTING SCREW FOR DRAWING INSTRUMENTS.
It will be seen that we can apply a spring D and adjusting screw opposite to the leg which carries the pen or pencil point of all our dividers if we choose to do so; but it is for metal drawing that such points are of the greatest advantage, as we can secure an accuracy very gratifying to a workman who believes in precision. For drawing circles on metal, "bar compasses" are much the best, as they are almost entirely free from spring, which attends the jointed compass. To make (because they cannot be bought) such an instrument, take a piece of flat steel, one-eighth by three-eighths of an inch and seven inches long, and after turning and smoothing it carefully, make a slide half an inch wide, as shown at Fig. 15, with a set-screw h on top to secure it at any point on the bar E. In the lower part of the slide F is placed a steel tube like C, shown in Figs. 12 and 14, with set-screw for holding points like B B', Fig. 13. At the opposite end of the bar E is placed a looped spring G, which carries a steel tube and point like the spring D, Fig. 14. Above this tube and point, shown at j, Fig. 15, is placed an adjustment screw k for fine adjustment. The inner end of the screw k rests against the end of the bar E. The tendency of the spring G is to close upon the end of E; consequently if we make use of the screw k to force away the lower end of G, we can set the fine point in j to the greatest exactness.
The spring G is made of a piece of steel one-eighth of an inch square, and secured to the bar E with a screw and steady pins at m. A pen and pencil point attachment can be added to the spring G; but in case this is done it would be better to make another spring like G without the point j, and with the adjusting screw placed at l. In fitting pen and pencil points to a spring like G it would probably be economical to make them outright; that is, make the blades and screw for the ruling pen and a spring or clamping tube for the pencil point.
CONSIDERATION OF DETACHED LEVER ESCAPEMENT RESUMED.
We will now, with our improved drawing instruments, resume the consideration of the ratchet-tooth lever escapement. We reproduce at Fig. 16 a portion of diagram III, from Moritz Grossmann's "Prize Essay on the Detached Lever Escapement," in order to point out the error in delineating the entrance pallet to which we previously called attention. The cut, as we give it, is not quite one-half the size of Mr. Grossmann's original plate.
In the cut we give the letters of reference employed the same as on the original engraving, except where we use others in explanation. The angular motion of the lever and pallet action as shown in the cut is ten degrees; but in our drawing, where we only use eight and one-half degrees, the same mistake would give proportionate error if we did not take the means to correct it. The error to which we refer lies in drawing the impulse face of the entrance pallet. The impulse face of this pallet as drawn by Mr. Grossmann would not, from the action of the engaging tooth, carry this pallet through more than eight degrees of angular motion; consequently, the tooth which should lock on the exit pallet would fail to do so, and strike the impulse face.
We would here beg to add that nothing will so much instruct a person desiring to acquire