Whilst a mainspring is a convenient way to store the energy that a clock needs to run, it does come with a few drawbacks. One is that the torque it generates reduces, in a non linear fashion, as the mainspring unwinds. This inevitably leads to variations in the rate of the clock, so it's definitely something to be avoided or minimised if possible.
It's also bad news for the clock if the user should get a little enthusiastic during winding and try to carry on past the physical limit of the spring. The barrel hook or spring hole can easily be damaged, or worse, fail completely.
A fusee is generally accepted as the gold standard for addressing mainspring torque variability, however both of these issues are neatly dealt with in this design by the use of a stopwork mechanism.
It's also bad news for the clock if the user should get a little enthusiastic during winding and try to carry on past the physical limit of the spring. The barrel hook or spring hole can easily be damaged, or worse, fail completely.
A fusee is generally accepted as the gold standard for addressing mainspring torque variability, however both of these issues are neatly dealt with in this design by the use of a stopwork mechanism.
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