A casual reading of the article might give the impression that the only important use of the verge escapement was with pendulum clocks. I tried the Harvard here as an experiment. One, Spring 1992M. Annals of Science, volume 65, Issue 2, April 2008, pg 171-200 They work in two parallel planes so that the blue wheel only impacts the locking block on the blue arm and the red wheel only impacts the red arm. It suffers from these problems:Verge escapements were used in virtually all clocks and Although the verge is not known for accuracy, it is capable of it. In many escapements, the unlocking of the escapement involves sliding motion; for example, in the animation shown above, the pallets of the anchor slide against the escapement wheel teeth as the pendulum swings. They kept time by using the verge escapement to drive a horizontal bar with weights on the ends called the foliot, a primitive type of balance wheel, to oscillate back and forth.
Anchor Escapement . This effect, which all escapements have to a larger or smaller degree is known as the Any escapement with sliding friction will need lubrication, but as this deteriorates the friction will increase, and, perhaps, insufficient power will be transferred to the timing device. The unique thing about the verge is that it is the only escapement that does not require a balance spring or a pendulum to operate.
In a pendulum clock, the verge escapement is turned 90 degrees so that the crown wheel faces up (top). In spite of the fact that these clocks were celebrated objects of civic pride which were written about at the time, it may never be known when the new escapement was first used. If this is not done, the timepiece may work unreliably or stop altogether, and the escapement components may be subjected to rapid wear. The verge (or crown wheel) escapement is the earliest known type of mechanical escapement, the mechanism in a mechanical clock that controls its rate by advancing the gear train at regular intervals or 'ticks'. Verge escapements were used from the 14th century until about 1800 in clocks and pocketwatches. Near the bottom of the pendulum's swing the tooth slides off the locking face onto the angled "impulse" face, giving the pendulum a push, before the pallet releases the tooth. The slave pendulum was adjusted to run slightly slow, such that on approximately every other synchronization pulse the spring would be caught by the armature.This form of clock became a standard for use in observatories (roughly 100 such clocks were manufacturedVerge escapement showing (c) crown wheel, (v) verge rod, (p,q) pallets. 1104 Library of Saint-Germain-des Prés until c.1800). This is called "being in beat." 20 No. Manual typewriters used escapements to step the carriage as each letter (or space) was typed. It was used in the first pendulum clocks for about 50 years after the pendulum clock was invented in 1656. Maltin "Some notes on the Medieval Clock in Salisbury Cathedral" Antiquarian Horology Vol. The degrees of arc which a pendulum may swing varies; highly accurate pendulum-based clocks have very small arcs in order to minimize the Pendulum-based clocks can achieve outstanding accuracy. Escapements are also used in other mechanisms besides timepieces. The time between releases depended on the rate of flow, as do all liquid clocks. The synchronizing mechanism used a small spring attached to the shaft of the slave pendulum and an electromagnetic armature that would catch the spring if the slave pendulum was running slightly late, thus shortening the period of the slave pendulum for one swing. It would reach the pallet and stop.