Karl griesbaum whistler
- Karl griesbaum singing bird box
- Its founder Karl Griesbaum was born in 1872 in the family of Mathias Griesbaum, a clockmaker.
- Karl Griesbaum was a German artist who was born in 1872.
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Griesbaum Workshop From MBSI 54-6
Griesbaum Workshop From MBSI 54-6
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by Sigfried Wendel
Reprinted with permission from Das Mechanische MusifdnsPfUTnent Nr. 87, August 2003.
Translation and editing by George Coade
It was not long before the Rosenau Brothers published a
and cages in Germany is not as well known as sim- Special Catalog to display the new Singing Bird Boxes. The
ilar pro
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Singing bird box
A singing bird box (boîte à oiseau chanteur in French) is a box, usually rectangular-shaped, which contains within a miniature automaton singing bird concealed below an oval lid and activated by means of an operating lever.
Its origins are found in the city of Geneva and its invention in 1784/85 is attributed to Pierre Jaquet-Droz.
The French term tabatière has also come to be used for any small decorative box resembling a snuffbox in form but not necessarily any longer used to contain snuff.
Characteristics
This object is made up of two separate parts, habitually crafted by different makers. The outer casing is a rectangular box variable in size, although with a standard measurement of approximately 100 × 65 × 40 mm, made of base metal, precious metal, tortoiseshell or other materials. It has an oval hole, some 45 x 35 mm in its top, edged normally by a decorative metal bezel.
On the front of the box there is a small slider that when it is pushed to the right, the lid or medallion lifts to a near-vertical position, and a smal
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SINGING BIRD BOXES – VALUATIONS, HISTORY & GUIDE
The Singing Bird Box Performance
On the outside of each box is a small slider, often located to the top right on the front panel. Sliding this activates the movement and split seconds later a small (1.5cm high) bird appears from underneath a hinged flap on the cover, more often than not surrounded by a finely pierced grille. The bird then begins to turn its body, flap its wings and tail feathers, move its beak in time with the birdsong and on the very best models, turn its head from side to side. Once the bird’s performance is over, it disappears as quickly as appeared.
The whole process is controlled by a stack of cams inside the movement, the number and complexity of which correlates to the performance of the bird. The cams also control the bellows, which in turn provide a constant flow of air to the whistle, and the piston within the whistle, to create the imitation of the birdsong. The cams are often in stacks of eight, with four controlling the movements and four controlling the position of the slider. The moveme
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