Looking for the German cuckoo clock? Discover more about the unique artwork and mechanism of the cuckoo clock from German manufacturers…
The German cuckoo clock is considered a beautiful timepiece which is truly a work of art. In the world of clock making it was a pioneering invention. Most people wonder how it manages to keep accurate time. Many people who own the German cuckoo clock would love to take it apart and see the mechanism inside.
Movement of the Amazing Cuckoo Clock
However, such drastic steps are not required and it is quite simple to figure the mechanism and understand the beauty of the movement of the amazing cuckoo clock. We take the modern-day clock for granted and don’t realize that the technology utilized to create accurate timepieces has been around for more than four centuries.
Pendulum Theory
The pendulum clocks were invented in 1656 and this is the format utilized still today to create timepieces under the pendulum theory. Before there were different methods to keep time which included the water clock, sun dial, hourglass and the spring powered clocks. However, before the invention of the pendulum clock, the accuracy of the clocks could not be verified. Most of them also needed constant attention and maintenance in order to keep them functional. The minute hand was introduced over a century ago but not until the invention of the pendulum clock was the hand accurate enough to be reliable.
German Cuckoo Clocks – Pendulum Based
The majority of German cuckoo clocks are pendulum based so in order to understand how they work, one must first figure out the pendulum mechanism. Different inventors arrived at the conclusion that if a pendulum is weighed down at a constant distance, then it will swing at the same rate, both forward and backward. No matter what size the clock is, the pendulum clocks will all work the same way from a grandfather clock to a mantle piece.
The difference will arise only in the rate of the swing of the pendulum. When it comes to the grandfather clock the pendulum will swing every 2 seconds but in a German cuckoo clock it will swing twice in each second so one might wonder how time is managed accurately.
It is all in the weights. Since there were no batteries the weights were utilized as a source of power and to keep the momentum continuous, keepingthe mechanisms in motion. The small sized weight is attached to a chain and a few gears to create potential energy and drive the time keeping mechanisms in the clock.
In order to make sure that the clock has the second hand moving exactly 60 seconds in a circle the weight must swing in a constant rate to turn the gear which moves the seconds hand constantly at an even rate. If you simply put the weight on the cord and wrap it around the gear it would fall to the ground. Therefore a series of gears are utilized to ensure that the weight does not fall too rapidly.
The astronomer Christian Huygens is credited with redeveloping the first pendulum powered clock in the year 1656.
