The seismographs are designed in a way that they slightly have the vibrations of the globe to move the instruments. But the suspended mass does not move but remains at rest, and the recording style keeps recording the different motions. The horizontal seismograph usually moves in an horizontal plane only. For the case of vertical seismograph, they have a soft link to the earth with an anchored instrument which suspends the mass. In this way, the mass remains from a spring and absorbs motion causing the mass to stay back in actual action.
