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The Encyclopedia of Horology

Clock escapement

Graham deadbeat escapement

Verified

Pallets with concentric locking faces hold the escape wheel motionless during the pendulum's excursion, eliminating recoil.

Schematic arrangement

How it is laid out

Deadbeat palletsPendulum

Outline schematic only, drawn to show the characteristic arrangement of wheel, locking member and oscillator. It is not a dimensioned working drawing and should not be used for setting up or repairing a movement.

Advantages

  • No recoil
  • Excellent for regulator clocks

Drawbacks

  • Requires good workmanship and clean pivots
  • Less tolerant of low power than recoil

Attribution and period

c. 1715, George Graham

Horological firsts are frequently contested. Where an invention is attributed to a named maker, that attribution is recorded as such rather than treated as settled fact.

Photographs

Graham Escapement
Graham Escapement — Frederick J. Britten, Public domain. Wikimedia Commons file page

Photographs are matched automatically from freely licensed Wikimedia Commons material. Each caption states the actual subject of the image and credits its author; where a close match for this escapement does not exist, a related mechanism may be shown instead.