North Coast Imports, Inc.

As part of our Clocktoberfest celebration in Berea, Ohio, we are partnering with Baldwin Wallace University in presenting a special open house at the Burrell Memorial Observatory on Friday August 9, 2013 at 6:30. Dr. Edwin Meyer presents a lecture on The Marine Chronometer, The Key to Finding Longitude. The technological progress of humanity has come with a concomitant necessity for a more precise method to measure the passage of time. This was apparent when maritime travel for conquest, trade and exploration required a method to accurately determine the position of a ship at sea. A ship's latitude could be determined by the angle of the noonday sun, but the determination of a ship's longitude turned out to be the biggest technological challenge of the 18th Century. There were two paths to this achievement - navigation by the heavens and navigations by accurately measuring time. Dr. Meyer will tell the story of this race for the determination of longitude on the high s...

Sometimes we're asked, "What is the difference between those clocks which are VdS certified and those that aren't?" This can mean many things in an age of outsourcing and Chinese manufacturing, but in our case VdS certification means that the clock has been certified by the Black Forest Clock Association of clockmakers as being an Authentic Black Forest Clock. While all of our cuckoo clocks from North Coast Imports are made in Germany and have the highest-quality mechanisms that are made in the Black Forest, some of our cuckoo clocks may have parts from other regions of Germany, Italy, and possibly Eastern Europe. The VdS certified clocks have a higher percentage of parts that come from the local Black Forest area.  Cuckoo manufacturing is a matter of strong local pride for Black Forest artisans. It is a cottage industry that all takes place within a few square miles. The VdS also provides a wealth of extra support and information on their Authentic Black Forest ...

I was on the plane yesterday, and had an interesting conversation with the man next to me. He brought up the Kimball Electronics Group  which is a global electronics company which he represented at one time or another. KEG was once Kimball International , which was one of the largest manufacturers of home organs. He remembered a conversation he had with the CEO which described their transition from organs to a giant electronics firm. The CEO said that from the '50s through the '80s every newlywed bought an organ for their home. By the time the '80s came and went into the world of electronics, no younger person was interested in having one in their living room. They were no longer a status symbol. To be sure, I remember them as a kid. Those home organs were everywhere. We used to have a stand at the county fair, selling Grandfather clocks next to those heavy organs thumping out "Oh When the Saints Go Marching In..." in every beat from a rumba to a disco gro...

Here's a great video from the VdS (Black Forest Clock Association) on how to troubleshoot your cuckoo clock hands. You can also find more information on this topic on our page here.

Here's a very interesting mechanism - especially the singing bird device. You can see a better video below and can hear the birds chirping. The clock was recently built by a retired hydrogeologist Richard Pim , who spent his long career bringing water to arid farmlands in Saudi Arabia and Nepal. [via Daily Mail ]

Here's a nice find on YouTube... from the description: Implementation and early development of a fully detached, gravity impulsed, mechanical escapement inspired by the designs of James Arnfield. Prototype built for kinematic amusement with the possibility of satisfactory timekeeping. The pendulum should at no time be connected directly to the going train and only impulsed by a falling tumbler which, after leaving contact with the pendulum, releases the escapement.  If you know more about this, I'd love to hear from you. Looks fascinating.

We, at North Coast Imports are very pleased to introduce the NEW Brettluhr! A  Brettluhr  is a "Little Board Clock."  It was a clock that mostly existed in Vienna in the first half of the  Nineteenth Century.  ( Here  and here are original Brettluhr  clocks.)  It appeared in many styles and configurations, but Brettluhren  commonly consisted of a board with a movement mounted to it.  Usually the board didn't have any sides or door which encased the movement. For our version, we decided to use a mechanism which showed off the beauty of the gears.  This "Skeleton" style movement is made in Germany.  It is, of course, made with the best quality materials and according to a time-tested design.  It is a single-train movement with a drop-off bell strike.  In other words, it strikes the sonorous bell once as the minute hand passes the hour. The clock is powered by the pull of gravity on the weight.  By the e...

I love Dug North's Blog . In case you don't already follow it, here are some noteworthy recent posts - for lovers of clocks and mechanical automata. Here's a beautiful and artistic piece from Levi van Veluw An analog clock in a digital world : This eye-boggling piece was recently featured in Clocks Magazine . Another book for your library... The mechanical clock, at least in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with its rational design and regular running, demonstrated an orderliness lacking in almost every aspect of life at that time. The clock came to offer an explanation for the mysterious workings of the cosmos: living creatures were in fact automata, and the universe itself was an enormous clockwork... Another great clockwork sculpture: There is truly some fascinating and beautiful stuff out there.  Follow this blog and Dug's blog for constant updates on the world of clockwork art!

It turns out there is an antique replica  (PDF) in Sydney ! Made in 1887. [via Kugelbahn ]

There's a fantastic article in the New York Times about the Morris Museum in New Jersey .  A musicologist draws connections between an 1877 Swiss music box there with Puccini's Madam Butterfly. Even now few visitors spend much time in the room where the Swiss music boxes are displayed. Yet, being a musicologist, I lingered there alone last January as my children ran ahead. I kept listening to one box in particular, a harmoniphone from around 1877, equipped with a reed organ and able to play six Chinese tunes from a cylinder.   Confused at first, I suddenly realized that I had stumbled on the key to a musicological mystery many decades old. Scholars have long known that Puccini used Chinese tunes in his  opera  “Turandot” (set in China and left incomplete on Puccini’s death in 1924). But they have been puzzled by the origins of two “Japanese” tunes in his “Madama Butterfly” (set in Japan and first performed in 1904). What I had found were Chinese sour...

Meet Bret Thorne, a kinetic sculpturer that makes fantastic clockwork creations! Go to his website and check out some videos and fascinating descriptions. Including this one... The most primitive computer is comprised of only two parts and from these two parts we can create all others. Those two parts are memory and a comparator. Some may claim that any practical computer must also have input and output, but that just is memory, or registers, memory again, or an ALU, nope that's a comparator.  We can further delineate memory into two types, read-only and read-write. We need the read-write type of memory to store temporary values for comparison. For example, read-write memory could be a toggle or counter. Read-only memory is convenient for storing tables or a program, however these two examples are symbolic and not necessary for computation. An example of read-only memory is pegs in a disc, where the presents of a peg represents a symbol. The true heart of a compute...

I finally had a chance to see the movie " Hugo " which is a film adaptation of Brian Selznick's book - which we've had on our reading list here for a long time. Best Movie Of All Time? Probably not, but definitely worth the watch (pun intended) for any clock nuts (and Clockworkpunks)! I loved the shots of Hugo's dad working on the two Orrerys. Did you see our NEW Orrery by the way?

Here's a great video from the VdS (Black Forest Clock Association) These are advance techniques for adjusting and fine-tuning your music box mechanism. Please be sure to pay careful attention to the video when making any adjustments, and remember that ALL of these adjustments should be VERY VERY small. All wire-bending and tweaking should be done a hair's width at a time. Be careful not to force anything or to bend anything too far.

From the Blackbird journal : Driven by a key-wound spring, the monk walks in a square, striking his chest with his right arm, raising and lowering a small wooden cross and rosary in his left hand, turning and nodding his head, rolling his eyes, and mouthing silent obsequies. From time to time, he brings the cross to his lips and kisses it. After over 400 years, he remains in good working order. Tradition attributes his manufacture to one Juanelo Turriano, mechanician to Emperor Charles V. The story is told that the emperor's son King Philip II, praying at the bedside of a dying son of his own, promised a miracle for a miracle, if his child be spared. And when the child did indeed recover, Philip kept his bargain by having Turriano construct a miniature penitent homunculus. [via Boing Boing ]

[via Make ]

We've had The Invention of Hugo Cabret on our reading list for a while now. Good news is that Martin Scorcese is working on a movie adaptation! It's a story about a mechanical automaton, and a loose narrative on the life of Georges Méliès. [via io9 ]

[via Adafruit ]

The Badisches Landmuseum at Karlsruhe has an excellent website where you can listen to some exceptionally rare and fascinating mechanical musical instruments and musical clocks. Here you can listen to a Musical cabinet by the Veith-Langenbucher company, Augsburg, circa 1620... or an Elephant Clock, c. 1760, Clock case: Antoine Foullet, Mechanism: Tibeauville-Lamy... or an Apollo Clock, c. 1780... or a Chest with Flute Mechanism, c. 1804, Davrainville workshop, Paris. The website has this to say about the Musical Chest: After Napoleon was crowned Emperor he is said to have commissioned this model and given it to the Duchess of Bordeaux. The metal pin roller, also known asa cob, has eight melodies by Joseph Haydn which he specifically composed for this mechanical instrument. I wish there were better pictures available to post, but the sound files are definitely worth checking out!

Here's a beautiful image, by Todd Mclellan , of a vintage alarm clock - all apart. From GraphicHug : Todd Mclellan has been creating compelling images ever since his days in kindergarten fingerpainting class. Check out more on his site, plus a video !