Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1880-02-05
Two Wonderful Clocks.

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One Of the most curious clocks ever
made was completed not many years
ago by Karl Keller, German miner Of
Pennsylvania. 1t so nearly resembles
the famous Strasburg clock as to seem
almost an imitation; but Keller declares
that he has never seen the great clock
of Strasburg, and that he never even
heard Of it until his own work was
nearly completed. At any rate, some
account of Ketler's clock will be of in
terest to American boys and girls, as
the first piece of mechanism of this sort
our own continent has produced.
Keller was occupied three whole
years in the construction of his wonder
full time-piece, during the last of the
three working at it day and night, and
often so absorbed in his undertaking as
to forget both food and sleep. He was
a man of very limited education, with
out any of the advantages of travel or
wide observation, and the whole work
Of this curious clock was performed
with no other tools than two common
iack-kniVes.
The clock is eight feet high and four
broad, has sixteen sides, and is sur
mounted by a globe, over which is a
cross. There are four dial-plates, all
carved in curious, emblematic figures
of most unique design. One of the
dials show the day of the month; an
other, the day of the week; a third, the
minutes and seconds; and the fourth,
the hour of the day. Above the dial
plates, a gallery extends about half
way around the clock, and in the center
of this gallery is carved wooden fig
ure of the Savior, while at each end is
a small door opening into the body of
the clock. Over the right door is an
eagle, and over the left a rooster.
Twice day-Jhat is, at noon and mid
night there is a sweet Ginning of bells,
during which the small door at the
right opens, twelve wooden figures per-
sonating the twelve apostles march in
procession, with st. Peter at their head
all along the gallery, Each in turn, as
he passes the Lord, bows with face to-
ward him, and then, resuming his for
mer position, walks slowly forward till
he reaches the door at the left, which
they all enter. When Peter salutes the
Lord the cock crows; and when Judas,
who is in the rear, with one hand shield
ing his face and the other grasping a
bag, reaches the cock, it crows twice.
At the extreme corners of the clock,
placed on pedestals, are beautifully
carved statues of Moses and Elias, and
in the rear are two obelisks of the
Egyptian style, inscribed in hieroglyph-
les, and designed to symbolic the an
cient period of history. The clock will
run thirty-two hours, and, by special
attachment, the procession of the apos-
ties may be repeated whenever desired.
But the most astonishing thing ever
heard of in the way of time-piece is a
clock described by a Hindoo rajah, as
belonging to native Prince of Upper
India, and jealously guarded as the
rarest treasure of his luxurious palace.
In front of the clocks disk was a
gong, swung upon poles, and near it
was a pile Of artificial human limbs.
The pile was made up of the full num-
Der of parts for twelve perfect bodies,
but all lay heaped together in seeming
confusion.
Whenever the hands of the clock in
dicated the hour of one, out from the
pile crawled just the number of parts
needed to form the frame of one man,
part joining itself to part with quick,
metallic click; and, when completed,
the figure sprang up, seized mallet,
and walking up to the gong, struck one
blow thatsent the sound pealing through
every room and corridor of that stately
castle. This done, he returned to the
pile and fell to pieces again. When
two o'clock came, two men arose and
did likewise; and so through all the
hours of the day, the number of figures
being the same as the number of the
hour, till at noon and midnight the en-
tire heap sprang up, and marching to
the gong, struck, one after another,
each his blow, making twelve in all;
and then fell to pieces. =" Some Won
dertuJ A@tOnaGtG;" st. Nicholas for Feb
T'2LITU.