A French gilt and porcelain mantle clock, a pair of Sidepieces, 19th century, with maker's mark to mechanism for Japy Freres, the Louis XVI revival clock featuring seated allegorical female figure, a Sevres rose Pompadour porcelain dial with gilt embellished Roman numeral cartouches, the body with cupids, festoons and trophy devices above a timber base, with key and pendulum and a pair of neoclassical three light sidepieces, height 50 cm, width 40 cm, depth 16 cm
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- Pendulum - The pendulum was discovered around 1602 by Galileo Galilei, and was adopted for time keeping by the Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher, Christiaan Huygens, who excelled in astronomy, physics, and horology.
The pendulum comprises a metal rod usually of brass or steel with a metal disk, known as a bob, at the end. The movement of the pendulum is driven by weights or a spring, and as a pendulum swings in a regular arc, it was found accuracy could be controlled to within a few seconds a week.
Timekeeping can be adjusted by changing the height of the bob on the rod, making the pendulum either swing slower or faster.
The disadvantage of the pendulum was that changes in temperature also changed the length of the pendulum, interfering with the accuracy of the clock, and so in the 18th century two types of mercurial pendulums were invented which countered the movement in the steel rod.
The pendulum was the world's most accurate timekeeping technology until the invention of the quartz clock, regulated by a quartz crystal, in 1927.
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