Since John Harrison was a cabinet-maker, he knew all about constructing things from wood. In fact, the first clocks he built as a young man had all-wood mechanisms. When designing a ship’s clock, he replaced many metal parts with wooden ones. Harrison used an oily wood named Lignum Vitae which didn’t need to be lubricated. Then, he designed a brand-new kind of escapement: the Grasshopper. The Grasshopper escapement worked with way less contact with the clock’s gears, which meant less lubrication was needed.
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