Litchfield enquirer., 1879-10-16
TEAE CLOCK MAKERS,

The peasantry of the southern portion Of the Black Forest, of Alemannic race, says L. c. Seguin, in his book on '''Che Black Forest, " have, from time ihmemorial, been known as clever and ingenious hand-work- CTS, both in wood and metal; but during the last two hundred years they have origi- mated and developed an industry which has become world-famous. For to them be- longs the honor both of inventing and to great extent of supplying the world with clocks. Who the first clock maker of the forest was, we do not know, nor whether he has ever reaped the reward of his inge. nuity. His name has not come down in story, but we can well imagine him: the square built, dark-skinned peasant, with long black hair hanging over his shoulders, and deep, solemn, meditative eyes; seated in his little wooden cabin beside the great earthenware stove, all through the long winter days, when the snow is piled many feet high round his cottage world; puzzling out the great problem, which through such long hours of patient toll and ever-deferred hope he has almost but not quite solved the problems of the weights and wheels.
 We can well fancy that earliest clock maker to have had as romantic and thrill ing story as had Palissy, the enameler; and in truth the results of the Black Forest genius have been far greater, and of in- fnitely more importance to the world than those of the French potter have been Rt1t fha ,1v oR nl1 S,, written.
 One of the very earliest, if not the first Black Forest clock is exhibited in the Brit ish Museum at Furtwangen. It is two hum dred and eleven years old. It only shows the hours, and has to be wound twice in the twenty-four. Its works consist of three wheels, regulated by balance, to which string with a great stone as weight is attached. An improvement was very quickly made upon this simple mechanism.
 The pendulum was introduced about the year 1749, the application of the pendulum to the movement of the clock having, it is believed, been first suggested by Galileo Striking clocks were invented also about the middle of the eighteenth century. These at first had to be wound every twen- ty-four hours. Eight day clocks were not manufactured until some forty years later. -.
 In the year 1850, a great spur was given to the industry, which it was found had be- gun to decline, by the establishment of a clock-making school at Furtwangen. For a~lx1
 years, every portion of the works of these Black Forest clocks was made by hand and each workman began and finished his own cottage, being assisted in his labor by the different members of his family. Now this hand and individual labor is to a great extent done away with, being supplemented by large establishments, where 100 or more men are engaged, in which machinery is employed, and the labor is subdivided into at least dozen processes. The men work twelve hours, are paid from twenty five to sixty cents day, and women are employed as polishers of the cases.
 The old hand-labor system is maintained only in few remote villages, and in the inferior kinds of clocks. Since the intro duction of machinery the Black Forest clocks have been, it is said, not only cheap CT, but more accurate, although it is certain that some of the old wooden clocks made 100 years ago are still in use, having with stood the various changes of temperature and the wear and tear of the century with scarcely any iimunition of their powers
 T,ok IL
 what is called the clock country, are over 400 master clock makers, who employ some 5000 workmen. Alto gether, about 14,OOO people, including wo- men and children, are occupied by this one industry. The number of clocks manufac- tured yearly in this district is calculated at two millions, valued roughly at five million dollars
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