Balance wheel

The balance wheel is the part of a mechanical watch that facilitates even passage of time, analogous to a pendulum in a pendulum clock. It was first developed for timekeeping by Christiaan Huygens around 1675. The balance wheel rotates in both directions, and its movement is attenuated by the balance spring. As the wheel rotates back and forth the impulse jewel strikes the pallet fork, which in turn allows the escape wheel to advance. Since the mass of the balance wheel, and the spring coefficient of the balance spring are known, the amount of time between impacts of the impulse jewel and pallet fork is known. By advancing the rest of the wheel train at set intervals of time the watch is able to keep the hands on the face of the watch kept to the current time.

Related Topics:
Mechanical watch - Pendulum - Pendulum clock - Christiaan Huygens - 1675 - Balance spring - Impulse jewel - Pallet fork - Escape wheel - Wheel train

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~