Bell

an open, cup-shaped, percussion instrument which yields a single dominant note. A bell is suspended usually mouth downward. A clapper usually hangs from the center and strikes first one side of the bell and then the other as the bell swings to and fro. Bronze bells have been found in the ruins of Nineveh. They were in use in India and China before they found their way into Europe. The Romans used bells for a number of purposes. Bells were carried and rung in processions, and were used to summon the public to the baths. One ancient author mentions a bell which rang in connection with a water clock to announce the passing of the hours.

Church bells are mentioned in Rome as early as 400; in France 550; in England 680. Some of the oldest bells in Ireland, Scotland, and Wales are quadrangular and are made of iron plates riveted together. A four-sided bell of this sort is still shown at the old monastery of St. Gall, Switzerland. Bells were brought to their present shape and stage of perfection in Holland by the middle of the seventeenth century.

First class bell metal is composed of copper and tin, in the proportion of four to one. The thickness of the lips should be one-fifteenth of the bell's diameter, and the height of the bell should be twelve times the thickness of the lip. Thus the proper proportions of a bell may be two inches for the thickness of the lip, thirty inches for the diameter of the bell, and twenty-four inches for its height. These proportions, as well as the graceful, inward curve and trumpet mouth, were all worked out by careful experimenting.

The casting of a large bell is an art in itself. A drawing must first be made giving a cross section of the bell. A pair of compasses with two crooked legs is then made. The curve of one leg must correspond to the inside of the bell and the curve of the other leg must exactly fit the outside. A stake is then driven in the center of the so-called bell pit, and a small quantity of wood is piled around it. A hut of brick is built around the wood, outside of which a puddling of clay mixed with hair is plastered on. The wooden compass before mentioned is pivoted on the top of the stake, and the leg which corresponds to the inside of the bell is swung around and around until the plaster core, as it is now called, is brought into perfect shape to fit the inside of the bell. This core is well smeared with grease, and a false clay bell, shaped by the outer leg of the compass, is fitted around its outside. If inscriptions are desired, they are moulded in wax on the outside of the clay bell. The clay bell is then greased as was done with the core. Fine clay is sifted on the grease, and then coarse clay laid on and troweled to the shape desired. This outside and last covering is called the mantle. A fire is now lighted in the center, as in a brick kiln, and is maintained until core, clay bell, and mantle are baked thoroughly into the semblance of pottery or tiling. During the firing process the grease between the core and clay bell, and between the clay bell and mantle is absorbed, which, together with the shrinking, makes the three pieces fit together rather loosely. The outside mantle is now lifted away and the false clay bell is lifted off or broken up. The mantle is let down again into its former position, inclosing a space between itself and the core, the exact shape of the proposed bell. In other words, two patterns have been made, one fitting the inside of the bell, the other fitting the outside. The molten metal is now poured in at the top, between the two patterns, where the head of the stake was before the fire was built. The metal is allowed to cool for several weeks. To get the bell out, it is only necessary to lift away the mantle and then lift the bell from the core. If the proportions are perfect, and the casting is without flaw, the bell will be in perfect tune. The maker tests his bell by tapping it just on the curve of the top, about one-fourth of the distance from the top, and again about the rim where the clapper strikes. If the bell be too thick in either of these three places, it may be filed slightly and brought into tune, but if, unfortunately, either of the three critical zones to be too thin, nothing can be done to remedy the defect. If the fault be too noticeable, the bell is worth nothing, except for metal to be melted and cast again. A maiden bell is one that is in tune without filing. Such a bell is prized highly.

The note of a bell depends upon its weight. The larger and heavier the bell, the deeper the note. A bell weighing 22 1/2 tons sounds C of the bass clef and costs about $18,000. A bell sounding C an octave higher weighs nearly three tons and is worth about $2,400. The law of notes runs to the effect that vibrations are in inverse ratio to the cube roots of the weights.

Some of the great church and tower bells of the world are a twenty-five ton bell in Cologne Cathedral; Big Ben in Westminster Clock Tower, thirteen tons; Great Tom at Oxford, seven tons; Great Peter in York minster, ten tons; one at Rotterdam, seventeen tons; the great bell at Pekin, China, fifty-three tons. The largest bell in the world in actual use is at Moscow. It weighs eighty tons. The Great Bell of Moscow, reputed to be the greatest ever cast, was never hung. It now stands on a raised platform in the middle of the square. It is estimated to weigh one hundred ninety-eight tons. A bell in Kioto, Japan, is said to be still larger. It is twenty-four feet high and sixteen inches thick at the rim. The Japanese excel in casting sweet-toned bells.

The first bell rung in the New World was swung in a church built early in 1494 by Columbus on the island of San Domingo. This bell is of bronze, eight inches high and six and a half inches wide. The bells referred to by Longfellow in Evangeline, Distant and soft on her ear fell the chimes from the belfry of Christ Church,

are chimes which peal forth every Sunday morning from the steeple of old Christ Church, Philadelphia. These bells were brought from England, a present from Queen Anne. When the Quaker City was in danger of falling into the hands of the British, the precious bells were taken down and sunk in the Delaware by some patriotic members of the old church, who feared that if the enemy got possession of them they would be melted and cast into cannon balls. Afterward they were drawn up from their watery bed, and when the war came to a close were hung again in the old belfry.

Modern uses of bells are almost too numerous to mention. Electrical bells are rung by a hammer attracted and released by a temporary magnet. Gray's famous line, And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds, is a reminder of the custom of placing bells on the leaders of the flock. Bells are a help not only in finding the cattle, but they enable the other members of the flock to keep with their leaders. Bells also frighten away wild animals. Horses passing along the narrow mountain roads of Switzerland are furnished with bells to give notice of their approach so that their drivers may meet in a widened portion of the road. In many cities, sleigh bells are required to give notice of the otherwise noiseless approach of sleighs.

A series of bells of different weights and consequently of different notes constitutes a peal, the ringing of which is a well known practice. Eight bells form an octave for the ordinary peal.

At present no one knows how to mend a cracked bell without melting it down and recasting. Many an attempt has been made to file out a crack and fill in the gap with new metal but without success. See Copper; Alloy; Liberty Bell