Kit-Cat Klock
Art deco novelty wall clock
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History
The first clock was an idea by Earl Arnault (1904–1971). It was created and physically prototyped by Clifford Stone (1908–1986) in 1932 and manufactured by the Allied Manufacturing Company, which was owned by Stone, in Portland, Oregon. Allied subsequently moved to Seattle, Washington, in the early 1940s and then to southern California in 1962, whereupon it was renamed California Clock Company.[2]
The manufacturer estimates that an average of one clock has been sold every three minutes for the last 50 years.[3]
Design
The clock's design has changed little in the intervening years. The first generation, manufactured from the 1930s to the early 1950s, had two paws and no bow tie. Newer models have four paws and a bow tie.[4]
In the 1960s, genuine crystals were added as accents to some clocks. The words "Kit-Cat" were added to the clock's face in 1982. The original clocks were AC-powered. However, due to scarcity of American-made AC motors, the clock was redesigned for battery power in the late 1980s.[5]