Posts Tagged ‘Eight Day Cuckoo Clocks’
Have you ever taken a look at the inside of a cuckoo clock? It’s fascinating to see all the gears and mechanisms in action. Weights are primarily used to drive the movement of cuckoo clocks.
In one day and eight day cuckoo clocks the cuckoo announces the time at the top of the hour. In some models, the time is also called out on the quarter and half hours. The weights in one day and eight day clocks look similar, with the eight day clocks a bit larger and heavier, accounting for the fact that those models are wound less frequently.
Breakneck Society
It’s hard to fathom an era or society where people don’t allocate their time by the minute. And now even minutes are beginning to feel like an eternity. For instance, the vast majority of trading on the stock exchanges is “high frequency.” This entails hundreds of thousands of transactions continually taking place within microseconds of one another.
This may seem like a hyperbolic example, but this trend is true on a more individual level as well. A five-second load time for a webpage now seems unreasonable. Or what if the clock on your phone—which undoubtedly sets itself automatically—were to be five minutes off? Imagine how inaccurate timekeeping was when people relied one day cuckoo clocks that had to be wound every 24 hours.
What is an 8 Day Cuckoo Clock?
Now that the Gregorian calendar is staunchly imbedded in cultures around the globe, any device that utilizes a timekeeping mechanism that isn’t calibrated for 12 months comprised of 7-day weeks seems a bit out of place. This is particularly puzzling when the disparity occurs with a time keeping device. So, naturally I was puzzled when I learned about 8 day carved cuckoo clocks.
Despite their name, 8 day cuckoo clocks keep time in the same fashion as any other contemporary timepiece. The moniker is derived from the fact that the clock must be wound every eight days. This level of maintenance may seem burdensome now that all of our phones and computers instantly sync up with satellites, but when the clock was first introduced, it was cutting edge technology.
8 day Carved Cuckoo Clocks
8 day Carved cuckoo clocks have nature-inspired themes carved out of wood attached to the case. Eight day cuckoo clocks only have to be wound once a week because they have bigger gears inside, making them more convenient. Clocks are wound by pulling the un-weighted end of the chain until the weight moves up near the clock’s case. The outer worked wood case is usually made of beautiful dark wood that is intricately carved with folk and forest scenes.
The Deer-head or Hunter Clock is a squarish shaped box which displays a traditional hunting scene. This style is not my favorite, although it is very popular. In the center at the top of the clock is the head of a buck deer complete with carved antlers. Often there are crossed shotguns and dead game animals arrayed around the dial of the clock. As with the other cuckoo clocks the Hunter Clock has a pendulum along with weights beneath the clock.
You literally can find a cuckoo clock that will fit in any room for any taste and will truly become a focal point and conversation piece. The price depends on the quality and what materials were used in the construction of the clock. You can find 8 day carved cuckoo clocks prices starting under one hundred dollars and going up to thousands of dollars depending on the artwork, the mechanical features involved and whether or not the cuckoo clocks plays music or not.
Eight day Cuckoo Clocks
Eight Day Cuckoo Clocks work completely the same as the one day clocks. 8-day cuckoo clocks are pendulum driven, but need only to be wound every eight days. The size of the weights are much heavier in the eight day clock versus the one day clock. These will be more expensive, but in my opinion are worth the difference.
Musical eight day Cuckoo Clocks have a third weight added under the clock for the tunes that are played. On the hour the cuckoo bird will announce the hour with the correct number of calls, and then a melody plays. Two tunes are offered with the aid of a Swiss music box where the notes are plucked on a rotating drum. On the half hour the bird will “Cuckoo” one time only and then a second melody will play. Most often the melodies produced in the clock are “The Happy Wanderer”, or “Edelweis”. Musical cuckoo clocks often have animated figures which move when the music box plays. Black Forest Cuckoo Clocks from Germany are the world’s finest. These hand-carved masterpieces feature precision mechanical movements, detailed craftsmanship, moving figurines, and music to delight you.
What’s your favorite style?
“How to” : Repair 8 day Cuckoo Clocks
An 8 day clock requires winding once a week. Eight day cuckoo clocks are a precise timepiece and repairing one requires patience and skill. The 8 day clock has two winding holes, one for the weights and one for the clock movement. An 8 day clock should only be maintained by someone with experience and training. Here some suggestive steps to take to repair 8 day cuckoo clocks.
Step 1 -Disassemble the clock. Examine all contact areas for signs of unusual wear. If a gear is showing signs of friction, that could be the reason for the clock stopping. Friction causes metal fatigue and worn gears do not mesh properly.
Step 2 – Clean the 8 day clock’s clockwork with compressed air. This only needs to be done every 10 years. Dust can cause the gears to stick, and the dust should be removed at least once a decade. Place the compressed air nozzle at least one foot from the gears, as one of the smaller gears could become unbalanced by the force of the air.
Step 3 – Use a magnifying glass and small tweezers to remove stray hairs caught in the gears. Exercise caution when extracting the hairs as too much force could dislodge the gears. Use a soft bristle brush to gently sweep out the clock body.
Step 4 – Check the mainspring to see if it has become detached. A mainspring that is over wound will become detached. Examine the mainspring to see if it has been replaced, as some past repairman could have installed a mainspring that was too large for the clock.
Step 5 -Re-assemble the cuckoo clock. Gently wind the clock about half way. This simple step is regularly overlooked.
Look forward for another “How to” article next Wednesday.
Eight Day cuckoo clocks
Did you know ?
A cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum-driven, that strikes the hours using small bellows and pipes that imitate the call of the Common Cuckoo in addition to striking a wire gong. The mechanism to produce the cuckoo call was installed in almost every kind of cuckoo clock since the middle of the eighteenth century and has remained almost without variation until the present.
The design of a cuckoo clock is now conventional. Most are made in the “traditional style” (also known as “carved”) or “chalet” to hang on a wall. There are two kinds of movements: one day cuckoo clocks and eight day cuckoo clocks. Some have musical movements, and play a tune on a Swiss music box after striking the hours and half-hours. The cuckoo clock as we know it today comes from this region located in southwest Germany whose tradition of clock making started in the late seventeenth century. The Black Forest people who created the cuckoo clock industry developed it, and still come up with new designs and technical improvements which have made the cuckoo clock a valued work of art all over the world. The cuckoo clock history is linked to the Black Forest.