THE BLACK FOREST CUCKOO CLOCK

Chapter 1..
History of the Black Forest Cuckoo Clock

The first Black Forest Cuckoo Clock was designed and made by Franz Anton Ketterer in the small village of Schönwald near Triberg, Germany, in the depths of the Black Forest. Ketterer managed to reproduce the cuckoo's call by the clever use of bellows producing two different sounds. Over the following years, the clock industry developed rapidly in the Black Forest. With their inventive genius, cleverness and dexterity, the inhabitants of the region employed the long winter months in making cuckoo clocks with richly handcarved decorations from various woods. In 1808 there were already 688 clockmakers and 582 clock peddlars in the districts of Triberg and Neustadt. During the long winter months, the farms were snowed-in and the people had a lot of time to create finely handcrafted cuckoo clocks of many styles with rich and varied carvings. The clocks that were made in winter were sold by the clock peddlars in the summer months during long journeys throughout Europe. The clocks were secured on a frame and carried on the back. They were works of art, sought after luxuries that conquered the hearts of people all over the world. This ancient craft continued to develop, becoming soon a flourishing industry. The poorly lit "cabinets" on attic floors where watchmakers worked in the past have become light and well-equipped workshops where clock movements and cases are manufactured by upt-to-date methods. But the woodcarvings are still handmade by skilled masters as they were 200 years ago. Old clocks, original drawings of the first clocks etc. are still used and modified as patterns for new models, but the cuckoo clock in its basic form is 200 years old and has survived until now. The cuckoo clock symbolizes the past, present and the future.

Chapter 2..
A cuckoo clock is typically a pendulum clock striking the hours using small bellows and whistles that imitate the call of the cuckoo bird and hit on a wire gong. The German Black Forest (Schwarzwald) is the birthplace of the cuckoo clock, which became a symbol for the region. Almost until the mid-17th century, sundials and hourglasses were the way of keeping time in this corner of the world. Clock making started in the Black Forest area around the year 1640 by replicating a timepiece brought back by a peddler probably from the land of Böhmen (today's Czech Republic). Already by the beginning of the 18th century, clock making had developed into an industry, which would flourish in the following centuries. The invention of the cuckoo clock in the mid-1700s gave this increasingly thriving industry a new impetus. The clocks were made during the long winter months when the farms were snowed-in and sold by peddling "clock carriers" in the summer throughout all of Europe.

Chapter 3..
The Origin of Hours and Minutes
The Egyptians had ten hours of daylight from sunrise to sunset (exemplified by a sundial described in 1300 B.C.E.), two hours of twilight and twelve hours of night.

The calendar year was divided into 36 decans, each ten days long, plus five extra days, for a 365-day year. Each decan corresponded to a third of a zodiacal sign and was represented by a decanal constellation.

In the summer sky the night corresponded to about twelve decans, although half a day would correspond to eighteen decans. This led to the division of the night into twelve hours.
The first hours were seasonal in that their length varied with the season. (Note that this system was also used in oriental clocks.) Later, Hellenistic astronomers introduced equinoctal hours of equal length. The Minute and the Second
The Babylonians (about 300-100 B.C.E.) did their astronomical calculations in the sexagesimal (base-60) system. This was extremely convenient for simplifying division, since 60 is divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10. The first fractional sexagesimal place we now call a minute, the second place, a second. The History of the Cuckoo Clock
All over the world the cuckoo clock is regarded a symbol of the Black Forest. Since the 18th century the clockmakers of their region have specialized in the development of this type of clock. The cuckoo clock became known throughout the world thanks to the peddling "clock carriers" from the Black Forest who literally carried the clocks on their backs in rucksacks.
The first model of a cuckoo clock was a painted wooden clock. The clock was composed of an almost square board for the clock face and a raised semicircle, and was lavishly decorated. The cuckoo itself was to be found in the semicircle behind a small door. This type of clock was made from approximately 1730 on and was considered to be the specific clock style of the Black Forest. However, the exact origin of the cuckoo clock is not totally clear to this day.
In the middle of the 19th century there were two principal visual forms of the cuckoo clock. The "framed clock", as its name suggests, had a strong wooden frame and a wide painted inner section to which the clock face was attached. The cuckoo was situated in the upper section of the decorated surface and was occasionally included in the other decorative scenes.

The "railway house clock" came into being at the same time and essentially represents the style which is still used today. The basic form is very simple; a rectangle or square on which an isosceles triangle is placed. The house-shaped basic form with wooden decorative elements was developed to include scenes from every day life. The earliest clock of this type had a wooden clock face with white numbers and hands and fir cone shaped weights. Today vine leaves, animals and woodland plants as well as hunting scenes are features of this typical form of cuckoo clock. Dancing couples in traditional dress automatically move to music or the mill wheel rotates on the hour, while a farmer chops wood. The cuckoo itself moves its wings and beak and rocks back and forth when calling. Despite fluctuations in demand on the clock market, the production of the cuckoo clock in the Black Forest has remained uninterrupted to this day.

References:
The Exact Sciences in Antiquity, 2nd Edition, O. Neugebauer, Dover Publications, New York, 1969 (paperback reprint) A History of Ancient Mathematical Astronomy, O. Neugebauer, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1975

How does the Cuckoo Clock work?
This is a reference to a chain weight driven movement.
There are also Quartz movements / battery operated with built in speakers that have pre recorded the cuckoo's call.
Eight-Day, One-Day, Musical, 15 Inch, Birds, Oompha Bands, etc. It all can get pretty confusing. We get many questions from people that have never owned a cuckoo clock and therefore do not understand the first thing about them. So we have added this guide as a way to answer some of the common questions on Cuckoo Clocks.

How does it work?
The key are the weights located at the bottom of the clocks. If you look at our clock pictures, you will see the weights hanging below each of the clocks, most often in the shape of pinecones. The weights drop over either a one-day or eight-day period and provide the clock's functions. The first weight, along with the pendulum, provides the clock timekeeping function, the second weight controls the cuckoo and movements, and the third weight controls the music. On non-musical clocks the third weight is absent. The weights hang under the clock by chains and slowly drop as the clock operates. Once the weights get near the floor, you must pull the chain's other end to pull the weights back to the clock. There are no batteries or electrical connections, all the motion and music is caused by the fall of the weights. Remember, the first clocks where produced long before electricity.

When do the movements occur?
In general on all clocks the Cuckoo pops-out and sounds on the hour and half-hour. On one-day clocks the motion and music generally plays on the hour and half-hour, on eight-day clocks this same motion and music happens only on the hour. Please email us for information on specific clocks.

How do I mount the Clock?
You need a very good support. The larger eight-day clocks can weight around 15 Lb. Your support to a wall must be solid, into a stud. Remember that the clocks are expensive and can be heavy. Please supply good support on your wall. On most clocks a single hole in the rear of the clock will simply slide onto a heavy nail you have on your wall. The clock must be mounted at a height and in an area where the weights can drop freely to the floor; 5-6 feet. The clock will still operate with less room for the weights to drop, however, you will need to "pull" the weights more often.

What moves?
The pendulum swings all of the time. The cuckoo always pops its head out from behind his closed door and sounds the cuckoo. Once at 1:00 and up to twelve times at noon or midnight. The cuckoo also sounds the half hour.

The remaining movements and music normally happen on the hour for eight-day clocks or on the hour and half-hour for one-day clocks. If the clock has dancers, they will spin with the music; waterwheels usually spin, bell ringers ring bells, bands move as they play, etc. Email or call for specifics.

My clock doesn't keep time.
The speed of the clock is adjusted by moving the leaf on the pendulum up or down slightly. Down will make the clock slow down, up will make the clock speed up.

How can I sleep with the cuckoo and music going off all the time?
Most clocks have a lever, located near the weights, which allow you do disable the sounds and movements at anytime. This is known as a Night Shutoff.

What type of wood are the clocks made of?
Linden wood is a wood of the Black Forest, the major wood in our clocks.

How does the clock make that Cuckoo Sound?
Inside each cuckoo clock is a pair of bellows. Think of these as squeezable air chambers or a musical bagpipe. Air is squeezed our and refilled in the bellows as part of the clocks movements. As air is pushed out of the first bellow through a slotted whistle carved on the clocks side. The air passing from this bellow gives the "Cu" sound. This is followed be the second bellow pushing air through a second slotted whistle. This bellow creates the "ckoo" sound. Again, these clocks where first created before electricity, so there are no electronic generated sounds. Music in the clock is generated by an old fashioned music box. The more expensive clocks have sweeter sounding music boxes with more notes.

BELOW IS A TYPICAL MUSICAL CUCKOO CLOCK WITH MANY MOVEING PARTS THE UMPA BAND, THE DANCERS IN THE BALCONY, THE WATER WHEEL AND THE BELL RINGER INCLUDING THE BELL ALL MOVE TO THE MELODIE OF "EDELWIESS" OR "HAPPY WANDERER" BOTH MELODIES ARE BUILT INTO THE CLOCK, SO YOU CAN CHOOSE WHICH ONE YOU PREFER OR SWAP THEM AROUND AT INTERVALS.

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