BELLS AND THEIR MAKERS

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 33, 2 November 1929, Page 10

BELLS AND THEIR MAKERS

SOME DETAILS OF LOCAL MANUFACTURE WHEN A PEAL FUSED WITH A CLOCK The articles which have appeared in “The Dominion” relative to the old firebell of 1871, which is soon to ring out over the terraces of Kilbirnie, have aroused considerable interest in Wellington. It has been pretty well established that this bell was the largest cast in Wellington up till the early 80 s, but subsequently other bells, some of even heavier metal, were made, curiously enough on the same site as that occupied by the E. W. Mills foundry in the ’7o’s, the block at present covered by Levin and Co.’s warehouse. • Mr William Cable, of Cable and Co., Kaiwarra, states that during his father’s occupancy of the site a peal of four large bells was successfully cast there in 1883 for the clock of the General Post Office, which was destroyed by fire in 1887. On that occasion the bells subsided with the tower into the blazing building, and when an examination of the debris was made it was discovered that the heat had been so intense that the bell metal (copper and tin) had fused with the brass and steel work of the clock. That being so Littlejohn and Son reported that the metal would be useless for recasting the bells. ■ The dimensions of the bells were as follows: — „ , Diameter. Weight. Inches. Cwt. 1 42 111 2 33 6| 3 30} 6 4' 28 5} Here was a case, then, where a ton and a half of good bell metal was lost to the tone world. Post Office Clock Bells. When the new General Post Office was erected (in 1889), and a new clock ordered, the job of founding a new set of bells was entrusted to Cable and Co. Replicas of the four bells destroyed in the fire were made (still on the same site) for the hour’s .chime, and an extra large bell measuring 56} inches in diameter, and weighing 32 cwt., was cast. This beU was presented by the late Mrs. Sarah Ann Rhodes, of Wellington, and bears the inscription in relief: “Presented to the citizens of Wellington by Sarah Ann Rhodes, in memory of her husband, William Barnard Rhodes. Lord be merciful unto us and bless us.” These are the bells that ring out now to mark in tone the passage of time. It is a matter for regret that the patterns for these bells was lost in the fire which occurred in Cable and Co.’s foundry in 1920. One of the loudest bells in Wellington is that of St. Mark’s Church, in Dufferin Street. This was also cast by Cable and Co. It was 3ft. 4}in. in diameter, 2ft. 9in. in height, and weighs 13cwt. About the same time a set of four bells, almost as large as those of the General Post Office (with the exception of the hour bell) was cast by Cable and Co. for the clock of the Invercargill Post Office. Bells for Ratana’s Temple. Since then this firm has cast many bells for different places in the provinces, one of the latest orders being two bells (2cwt. and IJcwt. in weight, respectively), for Ratana’s Temple. From this it may be judged that bell founding in New Zealand is not by any means a defunct craft. Mr. Cable states that the delicate part of the operation of bell founding is the tuning. The tone is regulated in the first place by the size of the bell. Each bell increases in thickness, of metal towards the rim, where the striker hits the in terior of the bell, and it is on that part of the bell that the tuner has to pperate delicately with the lathe until the correct note Is secured.