From 507 mechanical movements, No. 63, we get the following diagram and description.

63. Jumping or intermittent rotary motion, used for meters and revolution-counters. The drop and attached pawl, carried by a spring at the left, are lifted by pins in the disk at the right. Pins escape first from pawl, which drops into next space of the star-wheel. When pin escapes from drop, spring throws down suddenly the drop, the pin on which strikes the pawl, which, by its action on star-wheel, rapidly gives it a portion of a revolution. This is repeated as each pin passes.

I redrew the figure with colors and labels to help the discussion here:

As far as I can tell, the author means this: the wheel $D$ with pins is rotating clockwise, coming into contact with the "drop", $B$ (blue) and the pawl $C$ (red). The drop also has a pin $a$ which can collide with the pawl. It's not clear whether the components $A$ (in green) are the "spring at the left" that he mentions. According to the description, a pin of $D$ escapes the pawl first, the pawl then drops into the next space of the star wheel; then the pin escapes the drop, which (due to the spring) is thrown down, and what I think is the pin $a$ strikes the pawl, which "by its action on star-wheel", causes a rapid rotation.

But how does the pawl work here? If the pawl and star-wheel are coplanar, does that mean the pins of $D$ cause both the star-wheel and the pawl to be deflected? How does a pin catch the pawl anyway? From the drawing it's not clear. Would the pawl allow rotation of the star-wheel in both directions? It seems close to being able to move against the star-wheel when the star-wheel moves counterclockwise (so the pawl goes up, not down). I doubt the drawing is accurate in terms of scale and how things fit, but even being loose with the interpretation I'm having a hard time understanding what he means.

UPDATE 1: I tried to partially animate the mechanism based on the comment from @jsotola, and maybe this will help clarify things. It's hard to animate this by hand because I'm not sure if the pivots are correct, e.g. does the BC assembly pivot on A as shown, and do they rotate relative to each other?

From 507 mechanical movements, No. 63, we get the following diagram and description.

63. Jumping or intermittent rotary motion, used for meters and revolution-counters. The drop and attached pawl, carried by a spring at the left, are lifted by pins in the disk at the right. Pins escape first from pawl, which drops into next space of the star-wheel. When pin escapes from drop, spring throws down suddenly the drop, the pin on which strikes the pawl, which, by its action on star-wheel, rapidly gives it a portion of a revolution. This is repeated as each pin passes.

I redrew the figure with colors and labels to help the discussion here:

As far as I can tell, the author means this: the wheel $D$ with pins is rotating clockwise, coming into contact with the "drop", $B$ (blue) and the pawl $C$ (red). The drop also has a pin $a$ which can collide with the pawl. It's not clear whether the components $A$ (in green) are the "spring at the left" that he mentions. According to the description, a pin of $D$ escapes the pawl first, the pawl then drops into the next space of the star wheel; then the pin escapes the drop, which (due to the spring) is thrown down, and what I think is the pin $a$ strikes the pawl, which "by its action on star-wheel", causes a rapid rotation.

But how does the pawl work here? If the pawl and star-wheel are coplanar, does that mean the pins of $D$ cause both the star-wheel and the pawl to be deflected? How does a pin catch the pawl anyway? From the drawing it's not clear. Would the pawl allow rotation of the star-wheel in both directions? It seems close to being able to move against the star-wheel when the star-wheel moves counterclockwise (so the pawl goes up, not down). I doubt the drawing is accurate in terms of scale and how things fit, but even being loose with the interpretation I'm having a hard time understanding what he means.

UPDATE 1: I tried to partially animate the mechanism based on the comment from @jsotola, and maybe this will help clarify things. [Old Image, see Update 2] It's hard to animate this by hand because I'm not sure if the pivots are correct, e.g. does the BC assembly pivot on A as shown, and do they rotate relative to each other?

UPDATE 2.

I redrew the animated parts to be more idealized, and moved the driving wheel a bit closer. The result has some obvious issues, and I wonder how the pawl hitting the star wheel is supposed to make it rotate rapidly? Which direction is it expected to move?

From 507 mechanical movements, No. 63, we get the following diagram and description.

63. Jumping or intermittent rotary motion, used for meters and revolution-counters. The drop and attached pawl, carried by a spring at the left, are lifted by pins in the disk at the right. Pins escape first from pawl, which drops into next space of the star-wheel. When pin escapes from drop, spring throws down suddenly the drop, the pin on which strikes the pawl, which, by its action on star-wheel, rapidly gives it a portion of a revolution. This is repeated as each pin passes.

I redraw the figure with colors and labels to help the discussion here:

As far as I can tell, the author means this: the wheel $D$ with pins is rotating clockwise, coming into contact with the "drop", $B$ (blue) and the pawl $C$ (red). The drop also has a pin $a$ which can collide with the pawl. It's not clear whether the components $A$ (in green) are the "spring at the left" that he mentions. According to the description, a pin of $D$ escapes the pawl first, the pawl then drops into the next space of the star wheel; then the pin escapes the drop, which (due to the spring) is thrown down, and what I think is the pin $a$ strikes the pawl, which "by its action on star-wheel", causes a rapid rotation.

But how does the pawl work here? If the pawl and star-wheel are coplanar, does that mean the pins of $D$ cause both the star-wheel and the pawl to be deflected? How does a pin catch the pawl anyway? From the drawing it's not clear. Would the pawl allow rotation of the star-wheel in both directions? It seems close to being able to move against the star-wheel when the star-wheel moves counterclockwise (so the pawl goes up, not down). I doubt the drawing is accurate in terms of scale and how things fit, but even being loose with the interpretation I'm having a hard time understanding what he means.

From 507 mechanical movements, No. 63, we get the following diagram and description.

63. Jumping or intermittent rotary motion, used for meters and revolution-counters. The drop and attached pawl, carried by a spring at the left, are lifted by pins in the disk at the right. Pins escape first from pawl, which drops into next space of the star-wheel. When pin escapes from drop, spring throws down suddenly the drop, the pin on which strikes the pawl, which, by its action on star-wheel, rapidly gives it a portion of a revolution. This is repeated as each pin passes.

I redrew the figure with colors and labels to help the discussion here:

As far as I can tell, the author means this: the wheel $D$ with pins is rotating clockwise, coming into contact with the "drop", $B$ (blue) and the pawl $C$ (red). The drop also has a pin $a$ which can collide with the pawl. It's not clear whether the components $A$ (in green) are the "spring at the left" that he mentions. According to the description, a pin of $D$ escapes the pawl first, the pawl then drops into the next space of the star wheel; then the pin escapes the drop, which (due to the spring) is thrown down, and what I think is the pin $a$ strikes the pawl, which "by its action on star-wheel", causes a rapid rotation.

But how does the pawl work here? If the pawl and star-wheel are coplanar, does that mean the pins of $D$ cause both the star-wheel and the pawl to be deflected? How does a pin catch the pawl anyway? From the drawing it's not clear. Would the pawl allow rotation of the star-wheel in both directions? It seems close to being able to move against the star-wheel when the star-wheel moves counterclockwise (so the pawl goes up, not down). I doubt the drawing is accurate in terms of scale and how things fit, but even being loose with the interpretation I'm having a hard time understanding what he means.

UPDATE 1: I tried to partially animate the mechanism based on the comment from @jsotola, and maybe this will help clarify things. It's hard to animate this by hand because I'm not sure if the pivots are correct, e.g. does the BC assembly pivot on A as shown, and do they rotate relative to each other?