We will now take up the club-tooth form of the lever escapement. This form of tooth has in the United States and in Switzerland almost entirely superceded the ratchet tooth. The principal reason for its finding so much favor is, we think, chiefly owing to the fact that this form of tooth is better able to stand the manipulations of the able-bodied watchmaker, who possesses more strength than skill. We will not pause now, however, to consider the comparative merits of the ratchet and club-tooth forms of the lever escapement, but leave this part of the theme for discussion after we have given full instructions for delineating both forms.

With the ratchet-tooth lever escapement all of the impulse must be derived from the pallets, but in the club-tooth escapement we can divide the impulse planes between the pallets and the teeth to suit our fancy; or perhaps it would be better to say carry out theories, because we have it in our power, in this form of the lever escapement, to indulge ourselves in many changes of the relations of the several parts. With the ratchet tooth the principal changes we could make would be from pallets with equidistant lockings to circular pallets. The club-tooth escape wheel not only allows of circular pallets and equidistant lockings, but we can divide the impulse between the pallets and the teeth in such a way as will carry out many theoretical advantages which, after a full knowledge of the escapement action is acquired, will naturally suggest themselves. In the escapement shown at Fig. 20 we have selected, as a very excellent example of this form of tooth, circular pallets of ten degrees fork action and ten and a half degrees of escape-wheel action.

It will be noticed that the pallets here are comparatively thin to those in general use; this condition is accomplished by deriving the principal part of the impulse from driving planes placed on the teeth. As relates to the escape-wheel action of the ten and one-half degrees, which gives impulse to the escapement, five and one-half degrees are utilized by the driving planes on the teeth and five by the impulse face of the pallet. Of the ten degrees of fork action, four and a half degrees relate to the impulse face of the teeth, one and a half degrees to lock, and four degrees to the driving plane of the pallets.

In delineating such a club-tooth escapement, we commence, as in former examples, by first assuming the center of the escape wheel at A, and with the dividers set at five inches sweeping the arc a a. Through A we draw the vertical line A B'. On the arc a a, and each side of its intersection with the line A B', we lay off thirty degrees, as in former drawings, and through the points so established on the arc a a we draw the radial lines A b and A c. From the intersection of the radial line A b with the arc a we draw the line h h at right angles to A b. Where the line h intersects the radial lines A B' is located the center of the pallet staff, as shown at B. Inasmuch as we decided to let the pallet utilize five degrees of escape-wheel action, we take a space of two and a half degrees in the dividers, and on the arc a a lay off the said two and a half degrees to the left of this intersection, and through the point so established draw the radial line A g. From B as a center we sweep the arc d d so it passes through the point of intersection of the arc a with the line A g.

We again lay off two and a half degrees from the intersection of the line A b with the arc a, but this time to the right of said intersection, and through the point so established, and from B as a center, we sweep the arc e. From the intersection of the radial line A g with the arc a we lay off to the left five and a half degrees on said arc, and through the point so established draw the radial line A f. With the dividers set at five inches we sweep the short arc m from B as a center. From the intersection of the line h B h' with the arc m we lay off on said arc and above the line h' four and a half degrees, and through the point so established draw the line B j.

We next set the dividers so they embrace the space on the radial line A b between its intersection with the line B j and the center A, and from A as a center sweep the arc i, said arc defining the addendum of the escape-wheel teeth. We draw a line from the intersection of the radial line A f with the arc i to the intersection of the radial line A g with the arc a, and thus define the impulse face of the escape-wheel tooth D. For defining the locking face of the tooth we draw a line at an angle of twenty-four degrees to the line A g, as previously described. The back of the tooth is defined with a curve swept from some point on the addendum circle i, such as our judgment will dictate.

In the drawing shown at Fig. 20 the radius of this curve was obtained by taking eleven and a half degrees from the degree arc of 5" radius in the dividers, and setting one leg at the intersection of the radial line A f with the arc i, and placing the other on the line i, and allowing the point so established to serve as a center, the arc was swept for the back of the tooth, the small circle at n denoting one of the centers just described. The length for the face of the tooth was obtained by taking eleven degrees from the degree arc just referred to and laying that space off on the line p, which defined the face of the tooth. The line B k is laid off one and a half degrees below B h on the arc m. The extent of this arc on the arc d defines the locking face of the entrance pallet. We set off four degrees on the arc m below the line B k, and through the point so established draw the line B l. We draw a line from the intersection of the line A g with the line c h to the intersection of the arc e with the line c l, and define the impulse face of the entrance pallet.