Figure clock
Under figure clocks is understood watches which are provided with an animal or human figure, which run parallel to the hour striking movement, or the like or their eyes move every second.
Types of figure clocks
In the opinion of the guide through the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, these types of clocks are a forerunner of the automatic automaton and an ancestor of the automatons of our day . The most famous figure clock is the cuckoo clock . In addition, others emerged, such as dumpling eaters , quail clocks , turning clocks and those in which figures ring bells.
Function of the figure clock using the example of a cuckoo clock
In the case of a cuckoo clock, the bird is pushed out the door when the hour strikes, and the cuckoo call sounds. The cuckoo call is generated by two pipes with bellows. Clocks with quail calls work according to the same basic principle; clocks with a cuckoo and quail together announce the time.
literature
- Herbert Jüttemann: Figure clocks from the Black Forest . Waldkircher Verlag, Waldkirch 1998, ISBN 3-87885-325-4 .