Lever a fixed point. The lever operates by applying forces at different distances from the fulcrum, or a pivot. Assuming the lever does not dissipate or store energy, the power into the lever must equal the power out of the lever. As the lever rotates around the fulcrum, points farther from this pivot move faster than points closer to the pivot. Therefore, a force applied to a point farther from the pivot must be less than the force located at a point closer in, because power is the product of force and velocity. If "a" and "b" are distances from the
Lever escapement in alarm clocks, kitchen timers, mantel clocks and, until the late 1970s, cheap watches, called the "Roskopf", "pin-lever", or "pin-pallet escapement" after Georges Frederic Roskopf, who invented it in 1867. It functions similarly to the lever, except that the lever pallet jewels are replaced by vertical metal pins. In a lever escapement, the pallets have two angled faces, the locking face and the impulse face, which must be carefully adjusted to the correct angles. In the pin pallet escapement, these two faces are designed into the shape of the escape wheel teeth instead, eliminating complicated adjustments. The pins are located