Since the invention of the portable timepiece, the vibration system mode of the balance wheel + hairspring has been determined. Mechanical clocks and watches use the balance spring assembly as the vibration system to generate the standard time signal. This article will describe the brief history of the development of the balance spring system.
Since the famous "Navigating Chronometer" competition in the 17th century, British timepieces have been the best in the world. The balance spring system of the early British watches was a flat spring (blue) made of a metal closed light pendulum and iron base, which was a reduced version of the balance spring clock invented by the Dutch scientist Huygens. Usually, the balance wheel of high-end British watches is made of precious metal (k gold) to increase the inertia of the balance wheel, which can achieve the purpose of accurate timekeeping. Judging from the precious clocks kept now, the daily time error will be within 5 minutes.
In 1896, the Swiss physicist Charles Edward Guillaume (CE Guillaume) invented an alloy. The coefficient of thermal expansion of this alloy was significantly reduced at the magnetic temperature near the Curie point, causing the so-called abnormal thermal expansion (negative anomaly). Thus, a small or even close to zero coefficient of expansion can be obtained in a wide temperature range near room temperature. The composition of this alloy is 64% Fe and 36% Ni, with a face-to-center-in-face structure, and its grade is 4J36. Its Chinese name is Invar and its English name is Invar, which means the volume remains unchanged.
This remarkable alloy has contributed so much to scientific progress that its discoverer (Swiss physicist Guillaume) won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 for this reason. He was the first and only scientist in history. Won this honor for an achievement in metallurgy.
This invention was quickly applied to clocks and watches. The bimetallic truncated balance wheel has become a thing of the past, because the balance spring made of Invar alloy does not require a balance wheel to compensate for temperature changes.
(This kind of balance still has screws for fine adjustment of the position difference, but the body of the balance has been made of Invar alloy)
People gradually discovered that after removing the heavy screw on the balance wheel, the frequency can be increased to an unprecedented speed, the light pendulum returns to people’s eyes again, and the frequency record is constantly refreshed, from the original 1 second, 1 seconds, quickly increase to 1,18,1 and even incredible 1@ seconds in a short time! The accuracy of the clock is once again improved.Since the invention of the portable timepiece, the vibration system mode of the balance wheel + hairspring has been determined. Mechanical clocks and watches use the balance spring assembly as the vibration system to generate the standard time signal. This article will describe the brief history of the development of the balance spring system.
Since the famous "Navigating Chronometer" competition in the 17th century, British timepieces have been the best in the world. The balance spring system of the early British watches was a flat spring (blue) made of a metal closed light pendulum and iron base, which was a reduced version of the balance spring clock invented by the Dutch scientist Huygens. Usually, the balance wheel of high-end British watches is made of precious metal (k gold) to increase the inertia of the balance wheel, which can achieve the purpose of accurate timekeeping. Judging from the precious clocks kept now, the daily time error will be within 5 minutes.
In 1896, the Swiss physicist Charles Edward Guillaume (CE Guillaume) invented an alloy. The coefficient of thermal expansion of this alloy was significantly reduced at the magnetic temperature near the Curie point, causing the so-called abnormal thermal expansion (negative anomaly). Thus, a small or even close to zero coefficient of expansion can be obtained in a wide temperature range near room temperature. The composition of this alloy is 64% Fe and 36% Ni, with a face-to-center-in-face structure, and its grade is 4J36. Its Chinese name is Invar and its English name is Invar, which means the volume remains unchanged.
This remarkable alloy has contributed so much to scientific progress that its discoverer (Swiss physicist Guillaume) won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1920 for this reason. He was the first and only scientist in history. Won this honor for an achievement in metallurgy.
This invention was quickly applied to clocks and watches. The bimetallic truncated balance wheel has become a thing of the past, because the balance spring made of Invar alloy does not require a balance wheel to compensate for temperature changes.
(This kind of balance still has screws for fine adjustment of the position difference, but the body of the balance has been made of Invar alloy)
People gradually discovered that after removing the heavy screw on the balance wheel, the frequency can be increased to an unprecedented speed, the light pendulum returns to people’s eyes again, and the frequency record is constantly refreshed, from the original 1 second, 1 seconds, quickly increase to 1,18,1 and even incredible 1@ seconds in a short time! The accuracy of the clock is once again improved.