There are a number of importing firms who sell to jobbers, large retailers and clock companies only, and as the large American clock manufacturers all list and carry cuckoos the clocks find their way to the consumer through many and devious channels. Probably more are sold in other ways than through the retailers for the reason that the average retailer does not understand the cuckoos and is reluctant to stock them, thereby deliberately avoiding a large amount of business from which he might make a handsome profit.
Under the general term Cuckoos are listed several kinds of movements, all having bellows, pipes and moving figures, such as the cuckoo, cuckoo and quail, trumpeter, etc., with or without the regular hammers and gongs of the ordinary movements.
Figs. [101] and [102] show front and back views of a time train in the center with quail strike train on the left and cuckoo strike train at the right. The positions of arbors, levers, depthings of trains, etc., are exact, but the movement plates have been left off for greater clearness, so that the arbors appear to be without support. The positions of the pillars are shown by the shaded circles above and below the trains in [Fig. 101]. The parts have the same letters in both Figs. [101] and [102], although as the movement is turned around to show the rear in 102, the quail train appears on the right side.
Fig. 101. Front View of Quail and Cuckoo Strike Movement.
NAMES OF PARTS.
| A— | Quail count wheel. | O— | Quail Lifting pin wheel. |
| B— | Quail striking cam. | P— | Cuckoo lifting lever. |
| C— | Minute wheel. | Q— | Cuckoo warning lever. |
| D— | Quail lifting lever. | R— | Cuckoo lifting pin. |
| E— | Quail count hook. | S— | Cuckoo locking arm. |
| F— | Quail locking arm. | T— | Cuckoo count hook. |
| G— | Quail bird stick; | U— | Cuckoo striking cam. |
| also called bird holder. | V— | Cuckoo lifting pin wheel. | |
| H— | Quail bellows arm. | W— | Cuckoo count wheel. |
| I— | Quail bellows lifting lever. | X— | Cuckoo bellows lifting lever. |
| J— | Quail gong hammer. | Y— | Cuckoo hammer. |
| K— | Quail warning lever. | Z— | Cuckoo bird stick; |
| L— | Quail lifting pin. | also called bird holder. | |
| M— | Quail bird stick lever. | S¹— | Cuckoo bird stick lever. |
| N— | Quail hammer lever. | ||
In examining a movement the student discovers a peculiarity of cuckoo frames, which is that the pivot holes for several of the arbors of the striking levers have slots filed into them, reaching to the edges of the frames and narrower than the full diameter of the pivot holes. This is because such arbors have levers riveted into them which must function in front, between and at the rear of the plates and in setting up the movement the slots are necessary to allow the end levers to pass through the holes. Such arbors as have slots on the front plates are inserted and placed in their proper positions before setting the train wheels with which they function. The others are first inserted in the back plate and turned to position while putting on that plate.