General Facts About the Cuckoo Clock

A cuckoo clock is usually a pendulum clock (see Pendulum Clock page), that is made to copy the song or call of the Common Cuckoo bird. This clock often has a striking gong as well. 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.

(Quartz battery powered cuckoo clocks do not have bellows. On some quartz clocks the cuckoo bird flaps its wings as it sings. The call is a digital recording of a cuckoo bird calling from the wild. The cuckoo bird call may be come with the sound of a water fall and other bird calls in the surroundings.

In musical quartz clocks, the hourly chime is followed by a replay of one of twelve melodies, one for each hour. Some musical quartz clocks also have the animated figures. A unique option of some quartz cuckoo clocks is that they include a light sensor. When the lights are off at night, the hourly chime is turned off. The weights in the shape of pine cones are made of plastic, as well as many other parts being made of plastic. The weights and pendulum are for show only. The quartz cuckoo clock is driven by battery power. As in the mechanical cuckoo clocks, the dial is usually small, and typically marked with Roman numerals.)

The design of a traditional cuckoo clock is now pretty much standard. Most are made in a traditional or carved style for hanging on the wall. The wooden case is ornamented with carved leaves and animals. Some depict hunting scenes. The cuckoo bird appears through a small trap door, when the clock strikes. A small arm lifts or moves the back of the small door behind part of the carving and the cuckoo bird emerges.

There are different types of movements. Traditionally the one-day (30-hour) and eight-day movements were most common. Today there are 30 day cuckoo clocks and quartz cuckoo clocks as well, though these are not considered traditional. Today most cuckoo clocks are weight driven; some are spring driven. The weights on weight driven cuckoo clocks are made of cast iron in a pine cone shape. The pendulum ‘bob’ is most often a carved leaf. the dial is usually small, and typically marked with Roman numerals.

(Quartz battery powered cuckoo clocks do not have bellows. On some quartz clocks the cuckoo bird flaps its wings as it sings. The call is a digital recording of a cuckoo bird calling from the wild. The cuckoo bird call may be come with the sound of a water fall and other bird calls in the surroundings.

In musical quartz clocks, the hourly chime is followed by a replay of one of twelve melodies, one for each hour. Some musical quartz clocks also have the animated figures. A unique option of some quartz cuckoo clocks is that they include a light sensor. When the lights are off at night, the hourly chime is turned off. The weights in the shape of pine cones are made of plastic, as well as many other parts being made of plastic. The weights and pendulum are for show only. The quartz cuckoo clock is driven by battery power. As in the mechanical cuckoo clocks, the dial is usually small, and typically marked with Roman numerals.)

The sound of the cuckoo bird is produced by two tiny pipes (similar to a pipe organ) in the clock. Bellows are attached to the tops of these two tiny pipes. Inside the clock, the mechanical movement triggers the bellows to send a puff of air into each pipe one at a time. This is the simplest translation of the technicality of this mechanism I could word in a short paragraph. I trust that it is clear.

Some have musical movements that play a tune or song. Musical cuckoo clocks commonly have other animated characters or features that move when the music box feature sounds, such as beer drinkers, wood choppers, jumping deer, and… angry wives beating lazy husbands. Oh, my gosh! I have never seen one of these.