Clerkenwell Chairs

wandle river objects

handrail handle

Church Bells & Bell Casting

Church bells have not really changed in design for hundreds of years.  They are made from a particular form of bronze known as bell metal which consists of 4:1 copper to tin.  They are either mounted stationary, and rung by striking with an external hammer known as a mallet, or more commonly they are mounted on a rotating gantry known as a yoke, and contain a pendulum hung inside the bell – known as a clapper.

Casting
Bell casting is a particular profession.  Its techniques have changed little in the past 500 years.  It has always been specialist.  Customers have always been there, and have not really altered their demands.

Because of this, bell foundries are some of the oldest running businesses in the world, Whitechapel Bell Foundry in East London records a continuous line of master founders from 1420 to the present.  Taylor’s Bell Foundry in Loughborough dates its master founders back to the 14th Century and its present premises, built in the 19th Century are the only purpose built victorian industrial building still in use for its original purpose.

Bells are cast by making two formers.  One mould, known as the core, forms the void.  The other, known as the cope, forms the outer shape.  Moulds are made of loam, which is a mixture of goat hair and horse manure.  The loam is thrown on to bricks which are used as void fillers.

Big Bells
The biggest bell in the world has never been rung, it is the Tsar Bell in Moscow and it weighs just over 200 tons and was cast in 1735.  It was cast in a pit then raised on a wooden gantry for cooling.  Unfortunately a fire broke out and the water used to put it out caused thermal shock to the cooling bell which resulted in a large piece breaking off.  The bell fell back in to the pit and was not raised out for over 100 years.

The largest bell in the UK is Great Paul in St Pauls cathedral, it weighs 16.5 tons.

Carillons
A carillon or glockenspiel is a set of bells. Some english church carillons are controlled by pulling ropes hung from the belfry – one rope for each bell, this activity is known as change ringing and these sets are known as a “ring” of bells.

Other carillons are controlled automatically, using large rotating drums similar to a pianola.

Salzburg Glockenspiel control drum: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e7/Salzburg_Glockenspiel_01.jpg
Making bell at Whitechapel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H27BbUfVNyk
Tuning a bell at Whitechapel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3ANnGXHzxg
Great Paul bell at St Pauls Cathedral being rung: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YislE_cMs9g
St Peters, Cologne: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDZbaGPqKHU -
a photograph of the same: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/CologneCathedralBell02.jpg
A bell being smashed to re use the metal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBfBgT24uQU

Quarrying granite in Cottonwood Canyon, 17 miles south of Salt Lake City, 1872

Broomhandle Handle