The term longcase clock can refer to many different clock names such as  tall-case clock, floor clock, or grandfather clock.  It is a tall, freestanding, weight-driven pendulum clock with the pendulum held inside the clock case. A longcase clock is commonly 6–8 feet tall and features carved ornamentation on the hood, or bonnet, which surrounds and frames the  clock face. Most longcase clocks sound the time on each hour or fraction of an hour.

The first longcase clocks had a pendulum movement called an verge escapement mechanism. Unfortunately this mechanism required a very wide pendulum swing of about 80-100 degrees and could not be used a free standing clock case so most early longcase clocks had short pendulums. Then in about 1670 the anchor escapement mechanism was invented with a 4 to 6 degree swing. This swing allowed clockmakers to use longer pendulums which had a slower beat, using less energy, less friction and was more accurate.

Today most modern longcase clocks use a more accurate version of the anchor escapement call the deadbeat escapement.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 at 9:03 pm and is filed under Clock Styles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.