Kienzle Carriage Clock - Musical Alarm - Gulf Coast Clock Co

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Uploaded by on Dec 7, 2011

Kienzle Clock Co. - The company responsible for the manufacture of your timepiece has a long history dating back to 1822 in Schwenningen, Germany. The company was founded by Johannes Schlenker, who set up a clockmaking workshop producing hand-made wooden 12 hour clocks, under the "Schlenker" name. He later employed his 3 sons as clockmakers, and soon would begin producing over 2000 mechanical clocks every year, and continued to grow as time further progressed. Around 1860, a gentleman by the name of Jakob Kienzle married into the Schlenker family, and became a business partner in the family industry. Continual improvements to the business included the employment of over 60 people, new mechanism designs, and a new trade name of "Schlenker & Kienzle". The company continued to prosper, through the advent of improved clock mechanisms, while competing with many other name brands during that time with a high demand for high quality German clocks. Schlenker & Kienzle made many inventions, with some becoming very popular, such as the taxi-meter (clock/odometer/calculator); others were long forgotten, such as the bicycle theft alarm. By 1892, the company produced approximately 162,000 clocks per year. In 1897, Jakob Kienzle became sole owner of the company, and changed the trademark to Kienzle (winged clock) in 1898, while continuing to produce clocks and other machines with Christian Schlenker. The clocks had become a world renowned brand and opened branch offices throughout Europe, the U.K., and opened the "Kienzle Clock Co N.Y." around 1911. After 1922, the brand changed stock holdings, and dropped the Schlenker family name altogether, becoming simply Kienzle Clock Factories, A.G. The brand continued through many war times, and economic cycles, but remained active through production of Auto clocks (Daimler, BMW, Jaguar, Audi, Ford, Opel, and others) and the increasing demand for watches. The company remains active today, and retains the "Kienzle" namesake, producing mostly wristwatches.
Your clock is labeled as "Germany Kienzle Clock Co, N.Y.", and has the winged Kienzle clock, indicative of the Schlenker - Kienzle brand, after opening an office in the U.S. in 1911. The case style is typically referred to as a 'carriage clock', notable for their top handle, glass paneling, metallic case (usually brass), and a balance regulated movement (rather than a pendulum) that allows for transportation without affecting running or timekeeping. Historic use of the carriage clocks were for, just that, timekeeping while riding cross country, and sometimes had a leather-bound case to contain them within. Most were French made, although popularities spread the production to Germany and even in America. Carriage clocks were later kept as novelties, and rarely saw active travel use, but were admired for their size and simple beauty. Carriage clocks come in many shapes and sizes, and even vary greatly in functionality or design. Your carriage clock is large by industry standards, and is actually also a musical alarm clock. It has a nickel plated steel case with brass sash and back door, and contains a 30 hour nickel plated brass movement. The two mainsprings are wound from the back door, one for the time gear train, the other for the music train. The clock is technically two separate mechanisms, including the music movement located inside the base; it does not generate its own power, but is driven rather by the internal music train located to the right as viewed from the rear. A gear through the floor of the base turns the music movement, at the time desired by setting the smaller dial to a specified time of day. The clock lacks the ability to differentiate between 12 hour cycles, and should by design alarm twice daily, however, the music (although set to the shortest possible run time while still activating) will run for 10 - 20 minutes or longer, until the spring winds itself down fully. It will not activate again until the music train mainspring is wound fully. Although the clock did not have a "shut-off" lever originally, we have added one for convenience and ease of use, if the music alarm is not desired for daily use. If the shut-off is used, the music mainspring will not require daily winding, since the the train will remain static in function. The clock runs best while being wound once daily, and seems to run for a little less than 30 hours, we found that it will run at least 26-28 hours uninhibited. The run time could be longer if the factory hadn't installed rivets (that bind the spring after above stated time) to hold straps protecting the case sides from a continually unwinding spring. In order to protect the glass, the nickel plated straps and rivets keep the spring from bulging the case's side panels, and leaving a shattered glass and metal mess.

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  • a wand'ring minstrel was from a opra play, this very beautiful clock.

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