M18 Gallery

M-18 Galileo 2. Italian Olive, East Indian Rose, American Holly, Ebony and Brass .

This clock design is barrowed from Galileo's ideas for a novel clock escapement, invented around 1637. While at a Cathedral in Pisa, Italy,  Galileo observed hanging pendulum oil lamps swinging in unison. As he was searching for ways to regulate rotational movement it occurred to him that a rigid pendulum, when swinging, could open and close a mechanical switch with regularity, hence the escape wheel and rocker attached to a rigid pendulum.  By modern standards this design is inefficient. It does however keep perfect time today!