History of Cuckoo Clock Design

People love clocks with cuckoos popping out andKetterer is given credit for inventing the first cuckoo
chirping to announce the time. It has been estimatedclock in 1738. The clock used pendulums, gears,
that over 30 million cuckoo clocks have been built andbellows, and pipes that worked together to push the
sold over the past 250 years. Since the 1700s thecuckoo out the door and chirp in two tones. Cuckoo
Black Forest region of Germany has been famous forclocks became an important export of the Black
their cuckoo clocks. The two Black Forest styles areForest. People specialized in tasks such as making
the traditional cuckoo clock and the Bahnhäuslependulums, cutting out gears, and carving the clock
cuckoo clock. The Swiss have been building thecases. Over time, Black Forest cuckoo clocks became
chalet cuckoo clocks since the late 1800s. Extremelyquite fanciful with carvings of antlers, oak leaves,
ornate cuckoo clocks became popular among wealthyferns, edelweiss flowers, and forest creatures, such
people in the Victorian period and the Roaring 20s.as hares, pheasants, eagles, foxes, and alpine goats.
Today, the cuckoo clocks in most peoples' homesThe traditional clocks became extremely popular in
are in the Black Forest and Swiss Chalet styles.the hunting lodges of wealthy Europeans and the
The original German cuckoo clocks were theBritish. Rifles, trophies, and bugles were added to the
traditional clocks that were wooden houses anddesigns of some traditional cuckoo clocks.
cuckoos carved by the Black Forest artisans. Anton