A BELL IS BORN

Evening Star, Issue 19003, 27 July 1925, Page 1

A BELL IS BORN

'J'iie method of making a modern bell, such as tho len-lon giant which is lo lie installed in (lie new tower of Bristol lini\ei.,iiv, has varied very little, except, for the improvements due to machinery iiml to now .methods of tuning, since the time the monks made their own (writes "H.J!.," in the ‘Daily .Express’).

First, the boll is designed on paper, I,lien a. core ot brickwork is made the repaired size, and covered with loam and sand. This is formed into the shape corresponding to the inside of the proposed bed bf neaiio of an instrument, which is worked rocr! ami round like the arm of a compass until the right curves are moulded, l-or ine ~ ~

side shape a cast-iron case is used and lined with lialied sand and loam, made belL-Impe in a similar maimer. On this baked lining are chiselled the inscriptions winch wiil afterwards appear on the boll. The case is then placed over the core, leaving a space between the two which is the exact thickness ot the new bell, am) the whole is securely bolted to a. cast-iron plate at (he bottom. Jt is then baked dor two or three days in order lo get rid of all moisture, since the slightest trace, of dampness would cause sparks of the hot metal lo fly about during tin; filling process. Meanwhile the fiunacemen have bum getting ready, and for several days have been anxiously watching a low furnace containing several ions of bell-metal—an alloy of copper and tin. When tho metal has reached the right temperature the, furnace is tapped and (lie molten liquid is poured into a giant ladle and brought alongside each of the six moulds, which have been placed in readiness down the middle, of (he

“shop.” Then, taking care that I he, (low is continual, for the presence of one luibi'D ot air would mean a faulty bell, the fiery metal is poured into the space left between the case ami the core, of each mould. After some days, acordmg to the size of Lie bell, the metal cools. The case is then lifted off, revealing the outside of the bell, which is turned over and tho blackened core chiselled mil. It is now a Hull color, and tho final process is to polish it by means of sand-blasting, and to tune if with a special machine, which shaves off portion of the inside until the right note is obtained. It is (bon ready for mountin'', cither on a steel frame for a peal of bolls, or on (he steel girder of a carillon.