anchor escapement

American  

noun

Horology.

1. an escapement in which wedge-shaped pallets engage with an escape wheel having pointed teeth, usually facing in the direction of revolution, so that the escape wheel recoils slightly at every release.

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Etymology

Origin of anchor escapement

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

The company’s Marine Chronometer Manufacture features a new in-house movement, the UN-118 Caliber, with an anchor escapement made of a material dubbed DIAMonSIL, a composite of silicon and synthetic diamond.

From New York Times • Nov. 23, 2012

The anchor escapement, unlike the verge escapement he had been using in his pendulum clocks, allowed the pendulum to swing in such a small arc that maintaining a cycloidal pathway became unnecessary.

From Scientific American • Dec. 31, 2011

The celebrated English clockmaker Thomas Tompion—and, subsequently, his successor, George Graham—later mod­i­fied the anchor escapement to operate without recoil.

From Scientific American • Dec. 31, 2011

The point in which the anchor escapement was superior to all that had gone before, was that it would work well with a small arc of swing of the pendulum.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 6, Slice 5 "Clervaux" to "Cockade" by Various

The motions of the latter act, through an anchor escapement, upon a system of wheels.

From Scientific American Supplement, No. 363, December 16, 1882 by Various