The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-03 00:00:00

A MONSTER BELL;

The Berlin Correspondent of the Daily Telegraph
remarks :

The great bell (Kaiser-glocke, or Emperor Bell) has
been cast for the third time. Its final preparation and
cooking must have been a tremendous business. A
huge gulf was first dug in the earth, wherein
the stuffing upon which the inside of the bell was
to be moulded, was solidly built of a particular sort
of masonry. The size of this brick and mortar
receptacle may be estimated by the circumstance
that fourteen full-grown men can stand comfortably
under the bell. When the stuffing was finished and
hardened, a clay bell was constructed over it, of the
exact dimensions to be given to the metal bell ; the coats
of arms and florid ornamentation of various descriptions
were modelled upon this clay by the respective
artists, and the inscriptions fixed upon it in letters
made of wax. This false bell was then besmeared
with grease, and the "mantle" was again superimposed
upon it, of clay well worked up with calves' hair to
bind it well together. As soon as the " mantle " was
completed it was lifted off, the false bell removed, and
the mantle replaced in exactly its former positions with
the most minute care and precision, a hole being left
in the apex through which to pour the boiling metal
into the vacuum between " stuffing " and "mantle."
The furnace wherein the French guns of which the
bell is made were cooked consumed 200 cwt. of coal,
and burned furiously for twelve hours, melting down
and artistically stewing no less than twenty-two
captured cannon' some of which were field-pieces
of the Louis XIV. period, and were taken
from the French Royal forces during their campaign
in the Palatinate. When the fluid -metal resulting
from this, grand brew GI art4lery,Fas kurned on" into
the' hieuth of the casting, it 'flowed. freely . and
incessantly for 29 minutes ere. the "form" was full
to the brim, and took three weeks to cool ! Disem-
barrassed of its "mantle," the dimensions of the bell
are as follows :-12 feet in height, 11 feet in diameter,
33 feet in circumference; its weight is 25 tons, and its
clapper weighs 16 cwt. All the other bells of Cologne
Cathedral put together do not weight as much as this
monster, to ring which thirty men will be required.
The inscription is enclosed in a handsome arabesque,
above which stands St. Peter, whilst beneath it is
depicted the escutcheon of the German Realm.
The inscription is worded in the Latin tongue
as are a couple of distiches on the opposite side,
which may be translated, "I announce to the people
with ray voice a heavenly message; souls are aroused
by it, and chime in eagerly. Thou who openest the
halls of the temple' moved thereto by my voice, open
at the same time, thou heavenly porter, the gates of
heaven ! " A German inscription runs, translated, as
follows :—" My name is the Emperor Bell; I cele-
brated the Emperor's honour; I stand on a holy watch-
tower, and pray for the German Empire—that God
may grant it peace and security." The Kaiser-glocke
will be hung up in the old belfry, under the present
peal, until the Cathedral shall be finished, when all
the five bells composing the complete peal will be
definitively suspended at an elevation of ZOO feet above
the Cathedral square.