$4200
This audio-kinetic
cuckoo clock is a limited edition of 50, numbered and signed by George
Rhoads. The clock mechanism is constructed of steel, brass and plasitc.
It is 29 1/2" long by 15" high by 7" deep. It weighs
17 lbs.
The Effect:
A few minutes before the hour a number rolls down a track and a bell sounds. On the hour a cuckoo sounds and a new number indicating the hour appears at the right end of a row of numbers.
The Mechanism:
Cuckinetic is a true timepiece, run by an AC synchronous motor, like those in an ordinary electric clock. The dial of Cuckinetic is a row of cylinders that roll on an upper and lower track. Mounted on each cylinder is a weighted wafer bearing a number. As the cylinders roll, the number remains upright and legible.
The motor drives a worm gear which drives a patented spring cogwheel, one revolution every two hours. On the cogwheel are mounted two cam followers. One of these lifts an arm which carries one of the cylinders from the end of the bottom track to the top of the top track in the course of one hour. A pointer at the end of the arm indicates the minutes. The cylinder being lifted bears the number of the hour. When the arm approaches the top the cylinder rolls out of its seat and down the track into a hinged seat attached to a hammer that strikes a bell, announcing the hour to come. A few minutes later the arm falls off the cam follower, activating a cuckoo to indicate the exact hour, the number of which appears at the far right of the row, in its seat, ready to be raised to the top during the following hour by the second cam follower.
The cuckoos, painted red, can be seen to operate. The fan slows the fall of the arm to eliminate shock and to give the cuckoos the proper timing. The two brass balls rise as the arm falls, providing the correct tension to the nylon cord operating the fan.
Click on the QuickTime icon to see and hear the clock.
Don't have QuickTime? Download it for free here.
A few minutes before the hour a number rolls down a track and a bell sounds. On the hour a cuckoo sounds and a new number indicating the hour appears at the right end of a row of numbers.
The Mechanism:
Cuckinetic is a true timepiece, run by an AC synchronous motor, like those in an ordinary electric clock. The dial of Cuckinetic is a row of cylinders that roll on an upper and lower track. Mounted on each cylinder is a weighted wafer bearing a number. As the cylinders roll, the number remains upright and legible.
The motor drives a worm gear which drives a patented spring cogwheel, one revolution every two hours. On the cogwheel are mounted two cam followers. One of these lifts an arm which carries one of the cylinders from the end of the bottom track to the top of the top track in the course of one hour. A pointer at the end of the arm indicates the minutes. The cylinder being lifted bears the number of the hour. When the arm approaches the top the cylinder rolls out of its seat and down the track into a hinged seat attached to a hammer that strikes a bell, announcing the hour to come. A few minutes later the arm falls off the cam follower, activating a cuckoo to indicate the exact hour, the number of which appears at the far right of the row, in its seat, ready to be raised to the top during the following hour by the second cam follower.
The cuckoos, painted red, can be seen to operate. The fan slows the fall of the arm to eliminate shock and to give the cuckoos the proper timing. The two brass balls rise as the arm falls, providing the correct tension to the nylon cord operating the fan.
Click on the QuickTime icon to see and hear the clock.
Don't have QuickTime? Download it for free here.