The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-11-25
WOODEN CLOCKS.
An Industry Carried On in the Heart of the
Black Forest.

Awooden clock is good deal of cur
iosity in this part of the world, but in
Europe, and especially on the Continent,
where the enterprise of the Yankee
clock and watch maker has vet failed
to penetrate, the wooden clock is the
general rule among the middle and
lower classes. The simplest form of
timepieces of this construction are very
cheap, and as they combine with this
the advantage of being fairly accurate
tlmekeepers their popularity is not to be
wondered at It's perhaps not general
ly known that these wooden clocks are
the product of an industry that is car
ried on almost exclusively in the Black
Forest IN Germany, and in a recent re-
port to the State Department Consul
Ballow of kehl gives very interesting
account of the history of this curious
and, one might almost say, primitive
industry. The inhabitants of this wild
and otherwise unproductive region ap-
parently had no other resource but to
engage in some such employment, and
in this respect the wooden clock indus
try is a species of natural production,
in which all the phases of the process
of evolution are illustrated. They did
not have the soil to work upon, but they
had plenty of wood, and the natural
ingenuity of the people was not long in
turning it to account.
The first wooden clocks were made
in the seventeenth century and were
OF the most primitive construction.
Even in the middle of the last century
he mechanism was of the simplest
form, and consisted of three wooden
wheels and an escapement resembling q
yoke, which was operated by leaden
weights. The pendulum was introduc-
cd still later, but it was not until thirty
years ago that any changes were made
in the old traditional forms. Many of
these old clocks were very complicated
in their mechanism, at least so far as
attachments were concerned, and in ad-
dltion to recording the time of day they
would mark the day of the week, month,
and year, the principal feast days, and
operate whole armies Of soldiers and
other automatic figures. The clock
makers of the Black Forest during the
early part of the present century had
gained such a reputation for their pro-
duct that they controlled the market on
NAAS >OiibiIiClO anu maui q lCsbG NiCtlI vi
money. Then new styles came into
fashion, and for long time the indus
try in the Black Forest languished be-
cause the manufacturers refused to give
up the old form. Since 1850, however,
they have conformed to the more mod
ern usages, and now all varieties of
clocks are made, from the very finest
regulators with metallic works down to
the plainest of old wooden forms, for
there are still many who adhere to the
old traditions.
There are now ninety-two communi-
ties engaged in this industry in the
Black Forest, and IN 1880 the total pro-
duction was 100000 clocks, the City
of Furtw1UI-n alone making over 400,
rlt. yo IT, bis storas with atfs the Enites El tps
States being w =" at $4,000. The
varieties IN greatest demand here are
the cuckoo and trumpeter clocks, al
though occasionally chronometers and
musical ones are imported Germany
takes all kinds from the finest regula-
tors down; Austria only the cheap artic-
les, such as the chainwork clocks, the
high duty being an impediment to
trade. England takes the trumpeter
and cuckoo clocks and regulators.