Thomas County cat., 1886-12-09
WOODEN CLOCKS.
An Important Industry Carried On In the
Heart of the Black Forest.

An Important Industry Carried On In the
Heart of the Black Forest.
Awooden clock is good deal Of a
curiosity in this part OF the world. but
in Europe. AMI especially on the Conti-
nent, where the enterprise of the
Yankee clock and matchmaker has
vet failed to penetrate, the wooden
clock is the general rule among the
middle and lower classes. The
simples. form of ,;mc-pieces Of this
construction are very cheap. and as
they combine with this the advantage
of being fairly accurate time-keepers
their popularity is not to be wondered
at. 1t is perhaps not generally known
that these wooden clocks are the prod
uct of an industry that is carried on al
most exclusively in the Black Forest in
Germany, and in a recent report 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 other
wise unproductive region apparently
had no other resource but to engage in
some such employment. and in this re-
spect the wooden clock industry is a
species of natural production, in which
all the phases of the process OF evO'u-
ton are Illustrated. They did not have
the soil to work upon, but they had
plenty of wood, and the natural in
genuity of the pleople 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
the mechanism was of the simplest
form, and consisted of three wooden
wheels and on cscapement resembling
4 yoke, which was operated by leadcn
weights. The pendulum was intro
duced still later, but it was not until
thirty years ago that any changes We're
made in the old traditional forms.
Many of those old clocks were very
complicated in their mechanism, at
least so far as attachments were con-
cerned, and in addition 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 ciock-makcrs of the
Black Forest during the early part of
the present century had gained such
reputation for their product that they
controlled the market ON the Continent
and made a great deal of money.
Then new styles came into fashion, and
for long time the industry in the
Black Forest languished because the
manufacturers refused to give up the
old form. Since 1880, however. they
have conformed to tie more modern
usages, and now all varieties of clocks
are made, from the very finest regu-
lators 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 cOmmu-
mites engaged in this industry in the
Black Forest, and in 1880 the total
production was 1,S00,000 clocks, the
city of Furtwangen alone making over
400, 600. They are sent to all parts of
the world, the present trade with the
United States being valued at $4,000.
Inc varieties All greatest ucHiaHu mere
are the cuckoo and trumpeter clocks,
although occasionally chronometers
and musical ones are imported. Ger
many takes all kinds from the finest
regulators down; Austria only the
cheap articles. such as the chain-work
clocks, the high duty being an i'm
pcdiment to trade. England takes
trumpeter and cuckoo clocks and
regulators.-N 7. Graphic.