Bells & Bellfounding by John Llewellin File 01 – The Entire Book This document is provided for you by The Whiting Society of Ringers visit www.whitingsociety.org.uk for the full range of publications and articles about bells and change ringing BELLS AND BELLFOUNDING. THE FORM OF BELL ADVOCATED (~edium ~i~e) BELLS & BELLFOUNDING BY X -y-" -z J5tistol J. W. ARROWSMITH, 1 I QyAY STREET 1879 GEORGE W. EDWARDS ESQ. Pray permit my firm to inscribe to you in this your third year of office as Mayor of Bristol a small volume in testimony of high appreciation of your gene­ rous and sustained efforts in promoting musical taste and scientific culture amongst your fellow-citizens. Various experiments extending over a considerable period have been undertaken by or at the instance of the firm in order to make it a practical treatise and in now issuing the volume it desires to add a local contribution to technic al literature which although Im­ perfect may not be altogether unworthy of perusal. JOHN LLEWELLIN JUN. :J5rtstol, 1819. CONTENTS. l!tbapttr n. On $ollnb tn ftll nlatfonllbfp to UeIlll . PAGE An outline of the theory of sound-Musical instruments -Musical pitch and scale- How a ring of bells should be governed thereby-Clang-tint or timbre-Fundamental tones -Harmonics or overtones-Vibrations of a metallic ring­ Vibration s and harmonics of a bell-Some causes of a bell being in ferior-s-New plan for analyzing the tone of a bell. l!tbapttr Ill. On lbe lIleIl.founlJel"ll art PA GE 16 The older bellfoundcrs-«The decline of the art-Its revival-The quality of church bells-Their proportional thickn ess and shape- Continental bells-Composition of bell metal-Soundness of the casting-Casting and tuning bells to note-Arranging rings of bells-The bells of Exeter cathedral and Bow church-Number of bells in a ring-Splicing peals-­ Re- casting old bells. Q!bapttr 1I1l1!. On l!tlappe1'll anb lIltll.banging PAGE 33 Weight of clappers-Cannons-Dynamical laws-Bells " tucked " up-Bell wheels-G udgeons-Angle for the swing of bell clappers-Clappering bells-Towers-Main beams­ Ringing chambers-Belfry windows-Louvres. Qtbapttl' IF. On i'tUltll for arranging i'tingll of 15tIlll PAGE 40 To estimate the cost and total weight-How the total weight should be distributed-Table for tenor bells-Table for treble bells-Examples of rings of from four to ten bells. ~bapttr F . On tbe Q!bunb UeIlll of Ur(lltol PA GE 50 St. Mary R edclifTe-The Cathedral-St. Nicholas-St. Jame s-Christchurch-St. Stephen-All Saints-St. Pet er­ St. Mary-le -port-c-Sr, Thomas-Temple-St. Philip-St. Matthew-St. Andrew-Clifton-St. Werburgh-St. Micha el -St. Mark-St. John the Baptist-St. Augustine-the-Iess­ St. Paul-St. Luke Bedminster. I <!tbapter I. On Sound in its relationship to Church Bells. ;l3ells aub ~ell::founbtng. CHAPTER 1. PN I)OUND IN IT S ~L ATIONSHIP T O ~HU,\CH }3ELLS. ~ KNOWLEDGE of the physical laws which ~ govern the production of musical sounds is ~ very necessary to the makers of all musical ~oJ instruments but especially so to bell-founders 'l' and a brief outline of these laws forms a fitting introduction to any work on bells and bell-founding. The proportions which strings of various lengths bear to the pitch of the tones which they produce were discovered by Pythagoras (circa B.C. 500) whose musical scale tuned throughout by fifths accords very nearly with the temperate scale to which piano-fortes etc. are tuned at the present day but is inferior to the theoretically perfect scale. It is however to the discoveries and researches made during the past century and more especially during the past twenty years that we owe the greater portion of the infor- 4 of the instruments themselves impart the necessary impulses to the surrounding atmosphere. The (!l:baptn I. simplest of these instruments is a tuning fork which may be considered as an elastic double pendulum. On Sound in its relationship to This when struck sharply may be seen to be in Church Bells. vibration and from its construction as a pendulum the regularity of its vibrations are insured. Again from its being so little liable to variation the number of its vibrations in a second are likely to remain permanently the same. For this reason it has been chosen as the general standard of reference for the pitch of all other instruments. But unfortunately the makers of tuning forks in this and other countries have not yet adopted an universal standard pitch so that the nominal pitch of a note varies con­ siderably in these as in other musical instruments. Most treatises on acoustics give 256 vibrations a second for middle C which would allow the A tuning fork to have 256 X %= 426i vibrations but the International Commission convened for the purpose and held at Paris about a quarter century since gave 435 as the number of vibrations in a second which should be considered as the universal standard A. Although this standard has not yet been adopted its desirability is evident when we find that at Paris in the year 1700 the standard A was only 4-05 a second later on it rose to 425 in 1855 it was 440 and in 1857 it rose to 448. In Berlin it is now 448 at Milan 45 I i and at Covent Garden London 455. This last number 5 IS very convenient for a standard English pitch as it allows the length of all the organ pipes in C to <rr:bapter JL be an exact number of English feet (see Note r) e.g. On Sound in a large organ the length of the lowest C pipe in its relationship to from its embouchure to end = 16 feet the next Church Bells. octave above = 8 feet the next 4- feet and so on upwards in all open pipes half the length of pipe giving the next octave above. But this pitch is a half note sharper than C with 256 vibrations in a second and in published accounts of the weights dimensions and notes of church bells sometimes the sharper and at others the flatter of these two pitches is referred to in naming the notes. This probably arises from the flatter pitch being nearer to the mediseval and traditionary pitoh of the bells, and is therefore still retained for old bells while new ones are named from the modern concert pitch. This will explain many of the seeming contradictions often met with in the lists of weights diameters and notes of bells (see Note 2). NOTE I.-The velocity of sound in a second divided by the number of vibrations of a given note in a second would give its wave length one half of which is the length required for an open organ pipe to produce the same note. If A = 455 C should equal 455 -i- %= 273 vibrations in a second. The velocity of sound may be taken at 1093 ft. a second therefore the length of an organ pipe to give the C next below the A tunin g fork of 455 should be ~ ('Nz' ft. ) = 2 ft. The C one octave below requires 4 ft. two octaves below g ft. and three octaves below 16 ft. NOTE 2.-In 1858 Dr. Lardner in his work on acoustics gave 440 as the standard pitch for A and at the same time stated the pitch of the undermentioned orchestras to be as follows 6 As a ring of large bells is required to produce melody only and they have not to be played in con­ junction with any other instruments (see Note 3) the number of vibrations for the key note of the ring is On Sound in its relationship to immaterial so long as the vibrations of the smaller Church Bells. bells bear the correct proportion to those of the tenor which for a ring of eight bells should be in the same proportion as the perfect diatonic scale or as I: ~ f ~! {- V and 2. The old pitch G would give 96 vibrations per second for a tenor bell and At th e Berlin Opera 437·31. Academie de la Musique-Paris 437·31. Opera Comique-Paris ­ 41.7'61 It alian Opera 41.4.14 In 1875 Professor T yndall quoting Helmholtz's Tonempfundgen p. 30 says " New grand pianos may reach A with 27! vibrations." This would also make the standard A = 1.7~ x 1.' or 440 . Professor Pietro Blaserna of the Royal University of Rome is of opinion that the gradual rise in the musical pitch which has now been going on for more than a century has been caused by the makers of musical instruments continually endeavouring to increase the brilliancy of the tone of their instruments but Professor Dolbear of Tufts College U.S.A. has a very ingenious theory respecting it which is however more ingenious than reliable. In his work on the Telephone p. 66 he says " During the past century there has been quite a steady rise in the standard pitch and th is has been brought about in a very curious and unexpected way. The tuning fork has been the instrument to preserve the pitch ** * But a tuning fork is brought to its pitch with a file which warms it somewhat so that at the moment it is in tune with th e standard that is being duplicated it is above its normal temperature and when it cools its tone rises.