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.

---

Etymology

Origin of anchor escapement

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

anchor escapement

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 anchor escapement of a common grandfather’s clock can be made to drive the works by means of an electromagnet, the pendulum being removed.

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

Of the recoil escapement the principal types are: the verge escapement or crown-wheel escapement for both watches and clocks, and the recoil anchor escapement for clocks.

From Watch and Clock Escapements A Complete Study in Theory and Practice of the Lever, Cylinder and Chronometer Escapements, Together with a Brief Account of the Origin and Evolution of the Escapement in Horology by Anonymous