Pendulum clock

A clock whose mechanism is regulated by a swinging pendulum. The pendulum’s nearly regular oscillations provide a steady timekeeping rate.

Clock escapement: A mechanism that releases a clock’s gear train in controlled increments while receiving impulses to keep it moving. It couples the pendulum’s swings to the clock’s advancing gears.
Christiaan Huygens: A Dutch mathematician and physicist who developed the first practical pendulum clock in 1656. His clock design brought pendulum regulation into practical timekeeping.
Regulator clock: A precision clock designed to provide a reliable reference time, often with a prominent pendulum and carefully controlled escapement. Regulator clocks applied pendulum timing where accuracy mattered more than ornament.
Balance wheel: A wheel that oscillates against a hairspring to regulate the rate of a mechanical clock or watch. It replaces the pendulum in portable timekeepers that must tolerate motion.
Simple pendulum: An idealized mass suspended from a fixed point by a massless, inextensible string, swinging under gravity. Its oscillation model explains why a pendulum can provide a regular timekeeping rate.
Galileo Galilei: An Italian scientist whose studies of swinging lamps and pendulums helped establish their regular timing properties. His investigations supplied ideas that preceded the practical pendulum clock.
Astronomical clock: A clock that displays astronomical information such as the positions of celestial bodies or calendar cycles. Pendulum regulation improved the precision of clocks used for astronomical observations.
Quartz clock: A clock that uses the vibrations of a quartz crystal to regulate its timekeeping rate. Quartz oscillators offer a compact alternative with greater everyday accuracy.
Anchor escapement: A clock escapement whose anchor-shaped lever engages a toothed escape wheel and maintains a pendulum’s motion. This widely used escapement made long-swing pendulum clocks practical.
Huygens' pendulum clock patent: The 1657 patent granted to Christiaan Huygens for his pendulum-clock design. It marks the early formal recognition of the clock’s invention.

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