Frankenmuth Clock Company
966 S. Main Street
Frankenmuth, MI 48734
(989) 652-2933

THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK FOREST CUCKOO CLOCK

The beginnings of the Black Forest clock industry date back to the 17th century. The first Black Forest clock was made in 1640 at the Glashof, near Waldau which is now Germany.
However it was not until 1750 when the cuckoo clock was first designed and made. The idea to use the cuckoo's song originated from a yearning for springtime during the harsh Black Forest winter. Its inventor, Franz Anton Ketterer lived in the small village of Schonwald, near Triberg , in the depths of West Germany's Black Forest. Ketterer managed to reproduce the song by the clever use of bellows (originally Church organ bellows) producing two different notes.
Over the following years, the clock industry developed rapidly in the Black Forest. With their inventive genius, cleverness, and dexterity, the inhabitants of the region, who were usually farmers, employed the long winter months in making cuckoo clocks. They often used basswood for the clockmaker's ornate handcarved decorations because of its light, soft texture.
The cuckoo clocks made in winter in these snow-covered cottages, were sold in summer all over Europe. In 1808 already, there were 688 clockmakers and 582 clock peddler's in the districts of Triberg and Neustadt. Watch peddler's from the Black Forest, wearing their traditional smocks and carrying the clocks in large holders on their back, found a welcome as far away as London, Paris, Odessa, and Constantinople.
This ancient craft continued to develop, becoming soon a flourishing industry. The poorly lit “cabinets” on attic floors where watchmakers worked in the past have become light and well-equipped workshops where clock movements and cases are manufactured by up-to-date methods. But the woodcarvings are still handmade by skilled masters as they were 200 years ago. In fact, each Frankenmuth Clock Company Black Forest cuckoo clock decoration is handcarved in dry basswood, most from original models.

The Howard Miller Story

"Incomparable Workmanship. Unsurpassed quality. A quest for Perfection." It's what Howard C. Miller insisted on when he founded the company back in 1926, at the age of 21. Even then ,"Howard miller understood the need to create products that would be steeped in quality and value." He expected nothing less than the best. And it was only under those strict conditions that he allowed his name to grace every clock manufactured at there sprawling factuality in Zeeland ,Michigan."

"Howard miller was schooled in the fine art of clockmakingby his father, herman,in the black forest region of Germany. Howard developed into a visionary whose keen sense of innovation spawned a tradition of excellence that has been uncompromised thorough three generations."

"While the early years focused on the manufacturing of chiming wall and mantle clocks, Howard Miller also produced trend-setting avant garde clocks that stand today in collector's galleries. During WW2, Howard Miller joined forces with the Ford Motor Company to produce antiaircraft covers, In the 1960's,the company turned its attention to grandfather clocks. Eventually Earning the company title of "Worlds Largest Grandfather Clock Manufacturer."

"In 1989, Howard Miller began creating collectors cabinets with the same attention to detail and craftsmanship inherent in their clockmaking. Fashioned from glass and hardwoods, the cabinets are ideal for displaying heirlooms,plates,glassware and other collectibles."

 

Grandfather Clock Chimes

westminster Chimes are arranged from Handel's Oratorio, "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth."Best known as the chimes of Big Ben, this four bell chime is the most widely used chime in a modern clock today.

Whittington Chimes were made famous by a person rather than ether location of St. Mary Le Bow in Cheapside, London. One day, the penniless boy Dick Whittington heard them as he ran away to escape his drudgery as an ill treated houseboy, chimes seemed to call him back to the promise of success. He then had turned back and persisted with what the homefront had offered him and later became Lord Mayor of London.

St. Michael Chimes are one of the few chimes with a history based in this country. Although the bells for the chime were cast in London, they were installed in St. Michael's Church in Charleston, SC, in 1764.During the revolutionary war the city was captured by the British and the bells returned to England. After the war, a London merchant returned the bells to Charleston. In 1823, cracks were discovered in the bells and they were again returned to England to be recast. During the Civil war, the bells were removed to Columbia for safe keeping , but were ruined in a fire set by Sherman's army. After the war the bells made a third trip to England for restoration, and were once again installed in the Charleston church steeple in 1867 where they remain to this day.

Ludwig Van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony was first performed in Vienna in the year 1824. Beethoven, who was totally deaf since 1819, was not able to hear his own symphony or the applause that followed. The ninth was Beethoven's last major composition, and his use of vocal and instrumental music was revolutionary. A theme from the chorus of the forth movement was used by Henry Van Dyke in 1907 for his hymn "Joyful, Joyful we Adore Thee." This new chime eight measures of this now famous hymn tune.

Ave Maria Chimes in 1825 Franz Schubert wrote seven songs based on the poem"The Lady of the Lake"by Sir Walter Scott. The poem is set in the woods of Scotland in the early 1500's, where Ellen Douglas lived in hiding. King James V had banished the entire Douglas Clan because Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, had imprisoned the child king during the early years of his reign. Ellen's song has become part of the standard repetoire for the sopranos under the title"Ave Maria." The song was Ellen's Prayer for the safety for herself and her father as they hid in the woods.

Standard Time and Daylight Savings Time

The first federal legislation establishing a standard time for the nation grew out of efforts to save fuel and promote efficiency during World War I. On March 19, 1918, Congress approved " an act to save daylight and provide standard time for the United States." The law divided the United States into five zones -- Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, and Alaska -- and prescribed that the time in each zone be based on the mean astronomical time of the 75th, 90th, 105th, 120th, and 150th meridians west of Greenwich, England. Furthermore, the standard time of each zone was to advance one hour for the seven months beginning the last Sunday in March and ending the last Sunday in October.

The new zones themselves provoked little opposition from the general public. The Interstate Commerce Commission had drawn up the boundaries after a careful study of the railway times in use since 1883. In the few locations where the new boundaries caused problems for the railroads, special "operation exceptions" permitted them to carry time across boundaries to nearby stations.

As soon as World War I ended, However, a deluge of protests caused Congress to repeal the daylight savings provision of the original act. President Woodrow Wilson vetoed the repeal, but Congress overroad his veto. Nationwide daylight saving time -- in effect only in 1918 and 1919 -- ended on the last Sunday in Octover in 1919.

At the outbreak of World War II, the United States once again adopted daylight savings time. This measure, dubbed "War Time" by Franklin D. Rossevelt, began February 9, 1942, and continued year-round until September 30, 1945.

While many states or localities observed daylight saving time between the wars and after World War II, no national time legislation took effect again until the Uniform Time Act of 1966. It provided for eight U.S. zones called Atlantic, Eastern, Central, Mountain, Pacific, Yukon, Alaska-Hawaii, and Bering. The act also required all states observing daylignt saving time to do so uniformly from the last Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.

To ease the energy shortage in 1973, Congress enacted the frist peacetime, year-round daylight saving time in U.S. history. But because of protests, the country observed extended daylight saving time from only January 6 to October 27, 1974, and from February 23 to October 25, 1975.

Daylight saving time is still controversial. Through legislation, people are still trying to bend time to their own purposes. In the summer of 1983, the U.S. House of Representatives considered and then rejected the Energy Conservation Daylight Saving Act, a bill that would have extended daylight saving time by two months.

All of non-Navaho populated Arizona, the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, and a confusing concoction of Indiana counties do not observe DST. It is reported all Indiana schoolchildren must attend summer school between the 5th and 6th grades just to get a handle on the situation.