1 2 3 4 5 6 Movement · 1/6 The mainspring’s power turns into an even beat and becomes the hands A mechanical clock does not use its stored power directly; the escapement and regulator re-cut it into a steady rhythm. First look at the relationship between the barrel, gear train, escapement, balance, and hands as one map.
Basics: Wikipedia: Escapement .
Look at the process timeline alone and grasp the order: send power → lock → push → beat → to the hands.
Focus Whole
Time ×1 real time
Real speed Tempo 5 beats/s (18,000 beats/hour)
Escapement Story Overview
ALL Overview Shows the barrel, train, escapement, regulator, and hands together POWER Send power The barrel and mainspring / Send power LOCK Catch The entry pallet of the lever / Catch KICK One push The impulse face of the pallet stone / One push BEAT Beat The balance and hairspring / Beat HANDS Carry to the hands Cannon pinion and minute wheel (motion works) / Carry to the hands
See the whole flow: the mainspring’s power turns the train, the escapement and regulator cut time into even beats, and it is carried to the hands.
Going train 18,000 beats/hour
Barrel 96 / pinion 12 About 8 hours/turn · power source (unrelated to accuracy) Center wheel 80 / pinion 10 1 turn/hour · directly drives the minute hand Third wheel 75 / pinion 10 An intermediate reduction Fourth wheel 80 / pinion 8 1 turn/minute · directly drives the seconds hand Escape wheel 15 10 turns/minute · lever escapement (odd tooth count) On the dial side, motion works 12:1 (center wheel 1 turn/hour → hour hand 1 turn/12 hours). The seconds hand is tied directly to the fourth wheel.
Discovery check What is the main role of the escapement?
Cut the power into a steady rhythm and release it bit by bit Turn electricity into light Only wind the mainspring automatically
Answer the check to continue
Intermediate · 20min
Where to go next Nearby adventures Myriad Year Clock: One Winding, Six Faces Explore Tanaka Hisashige’s 1851 Myriad Year Clock, where a single winding of a brass mainspring runs for about a year and drives the temporal-hour dial, the 24 solar terms, the weekday, the sexagenary cycle, the moon age, a Western clock, and a celestial globe all at once. Microwave Oven: What Happens Before the Food Warms Open the door and the tube stops. Follow the wave through a metal pipe, watch water turn a little late, and see electrons graze the cavities that make the wave. EV Powertrain: How Electricity Turns the Wheels Trace energy from the underfloor battery through the inverter, motor, reduction gear, differential, and tires, running forward under acceleration and backward under regeneration, then compare where the same 100 units of onboard energy go in an EV versus a gasoline car. 
