The Geneva Drive, or Maltese Mechanism, converts continuous rotational motion into an intermittent ‘tick.’ This is...

The Geneva Drive, or Maltese Mechanism, converts continuous rotational motion into an intermittent ‘tick.’ This is usually responsible for the ticking of the minute and/or second hand in clocks.

More about this:
http://ebooks.library.cornell.edu/k/kmoddl/pdf/002_010.pdf

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Geneva Drive