History,the,Cuckoo,Clock,Part, DIY History of the Cuckoo Clock Part 2

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0in When starting a new work at home business it is very easy to become consumed by it. We spend so much time trying to get the business up and running that we may end up becoming burned out and lose our motivation. There is so much to learn and

Normal 0 false false false EN-CA X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;mso-style-noshow:yes;mso-style-priority:99;mso-style-qformat:yes;mso-style-parent:"";mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt;mso-para-margin-top:0cm;mso-para-margin-right:0cm;mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;mso-para-margin-left:0cm;line-height:115%;mso-pagination:widow-orphan;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast;mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;}Towards the end of the 1700’s the people around the blackForest region were building cuckoo clocks during the long winter months. Thesefarmer clock makers were improving the designs of the clocks they werebuilding. They were improving the inner workings of the clock and designing newstyles and techniques for wood carving. This traditional style of clock was called a shield clock or“Schilduhur” having a painted flat square wooden face. Behind the face is wherethe clockworks were attached. Above the square wooden face was a semicircle ofpainted wood which had a door for the cuckoo. These clockmakers carved andpainted this semicircle with the cuckoo in it. The paintings that were paintedon the clock were called “Rosenuhren” and the clock also had painted columns oneach side of the semicircle.  Over time these clockmakers changed the wooden gears tometal clockworks which improved the accuracy of the cuckoo clock. There craftsmanshipin wood carving and painting improved. In the spring time these clockmakerswould take their clocks that they made over the winter to town to display andsell them.  By 1808 there were 688 clockmakers and 582 clock peddlersaround the towns of Triberg and Neustadt in the Black Forest region of Germany.Historians say there were around 9013 inhabitants and 790 of these inhabitantswere involved in clock making.  By 1850 in Furtwangen Germany in the Black Forest region aschool was started for clock making. The Duke of Baden donated some land and abuilding and called the school the Grand Duchy of Baden Clockmakers School. Thestudents learned math, clock drawing, as well as making cases and buildingclock works.  After the school was started they launched a competitionwhere anyone could submit designs for clock cases. An architect FriedrichEisenlohr submitted a design of a clock looking like a railroad station house.It had a pointed roof with a square shape. The front of the clock was decoratedwith hand carved scenes of flowers and leaves and birds. Some of these clockshad wildlife scenes with deer and rabbits and quail. At the top of the railroadstation house was a trap door where the cuckoo bird came out. During the early 1850’s two different styles of cuckooclocks were being made. One was the framed clock or “Rosenuhren”. It was apicture frame with a painted Black Forest scene on the wooden background. Thecuckoo bird was installed in the upper section of the decorated surface of theclock. This style of clock was not produced very long.  The other style was the railroad station clock or“Bahnhausle” which was designed to look like a railroad house that was builtalong the railroad lines in Germany. This design of clock became the most popular style for the clock makers. In 1854 Johann Baptist Beha a well known clock maker sold 2clocks to a clock dealer with oil paintings on the front of the clock and withthe cuckoo mechanisms. He called these railroad station clocks “BahnhofleUhren”. Another well known clock maker Theodor Ketterer sold the same style tosomeone from Glasgow Scotland. All the clock makers by this time were designingand building their cuckoo clocks to look like the railroad station house withthe cuckoo mechanisms. By the end of the 1850’s there was a boom in the BlackForest region building cuckoo clocks.  By 1860 the railroad station clock began to develop a differentstyle of design. The clockmakers started to do three dimensional wood carvingson the fronts of their cuckoo clocks. In Furtwangen in 1861 they startedcarving hunt designs. They carved animals and guns and powder bags and oakleaves on the fronts. They called this style of clock “Jagstuk”. In 1862 the clock makers started making the clock hands outof bone instead of wood. The weights were designed to look like pine cones.Some of the clock makers designed different weights rather than the pine cones. Over the next 150 years the railroad station cuckoo clock or“Bahnhausle” was the preferred style of the Black Forest clock. With its highpeaked roof and three dimensional carved front the trap door for the cuckoo tocome out and the pine cone weights. Around the towns of Schonach and Titisee-Neustadt in theBlack Forest region of Germany there are several dozen clock making companiesthat produce the railroad station cuckoo clock and sell them throughout theworld. When you think of a cuckoo clock you see the “Bahnhausle” style clockwith its beautiful designs and sounds. You see the animated figurines and heardifferent music tunes but best of all you hear the call of the cuckoo bird.