 Therefore, slight variations in the friction of the pallets and in the torque from the escape wheel are passed on to the pendulum, disturbing its motion.In the Riefler escapement, the energy required to keep the pendulum swinging is instead supplied by bending the short straight spring strip which suspends the pendulum.The upper end of the suspension spring is not attached to a fixed support as in most clocks, but instead is attached to a heavy metal bearer, which pivots on two aligned knife-edges on its underside which rest on flat agate plates.