Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1870-10-20

seen reasons to employ pretty nearly
the same kind Of metal. There il al
ways much more copper than tin; but
every bell founder has his fayorite re-
ceipt in this matter. Some adopt sim
ply four Of copper to one Of tin; some
thirty-two Of copper to nine Of tin. Big
Ben has about twenty-five to seven Of
tin. Mr.. Layard found at Nineveh
bells which had IS much as ten parts
copper ~ one Of tin. It is, therefore,
evident that no very great amount Of
exactness is necessary in this matter.
1t is considered. in general way,
that an extra dose " tin improves the
sound, but renders the alloy more brit
tie; the founder, therefore, establishes
u balance Of advantage according to
his judgment and experience. When
a large bell is annealed very slowly,
the sonOrous quality Of the mass is
improved.
Bell metal, though the most general,
is not the only material for bells.
Sometimes . little lead. arsenic, or
Zinc, is added to the copper and tin.
II used to be favorite idea that silver,
thrown into the melting furnace, i'm
proves the tone of bell. As for other
metals besides copper, tin, and silver,
it is known that steel and iron are oc-
casionally used for church bells. Such
bells have been cast at Westphalis, at
Sheffield, and at Dundyan, near Glas-
Cow. Steel bells are lighter and cheap
or than those Of bell metal, and yield
rich and brilliant tone but the sound
is said to be unable TO penetrate a
great distance. Cast iron with the ad-
dition Of little tin. has been tried /;
but the alloy was far too brittle. Glass
bells, and wooden bells are also talk
ell about but We do not see how the
former could bear any hammering or
clappering, nor how the latter could
yield a sound worth hearing. One OF
the missionaries to Fiji, however, has
described q bell or sounding instrument
made from the hollow trunk of a tree,
like a trough, and placed on coil Of
rope or some other elastic mass On the
! grounp; when struck at one end with
= mallet, it gives out u stihed roar
\ which we are told could be heaad
twelve miles of.
The sound Of 4 bell is further depen-
dent on size, shape and proportion.
The familiar 'bell-shape" is not a
mere random guess or fancy. 1t has
been found by experiment, after com
pairing sounding bodies shaped like
springs, spirals, hemispheres, tuning
forks, yongs, cylinders, hat plates, etc.
that bell of the ordinary shape. and
Of the same weight, will give ou; its
sound to Il greater distance than any
yield rich deep tones. In describing
the several parts and proportions Of a
bell, tue founders speak Vi it almost as
living being with its head, mouth,
made with very long waists, almost
cylindrical /; but this is not general
characteristic.
As to the actual tone, pitch, or musi-
cal note Of a particular bell, it does not
depend Oh any one Of the dimensions
singly, but on the relation between the
diameter, height, and thickness. The
larger the diameter the deeper the tone,
height and thickness remaining unaltcr-
cd; the thinner the metal the deeper
the tone, diameter and height remain
ing unaitered. The German bell found
ers adopt kind Of average rule main
tanning certain ratios between the
diameter Of the mouth, the diameter of
the head or upper part, the height.
and the thickness Of metal and GER
tain ratio between the weight Of the
bell and the weight Of the clapper.
In this way they can make pretty
good guess beforehand At he tone
which bell will yield. English bell
founders have ratios Of their own,
which they regard in some sense as
trade secrets. In their practice, how
| ever, there are often unforeseen and
unexplained difficulties in the matter
the Royal Exchange bell, for instance,
is said to have failed in yielding either
the pitch or the quality Of tone intend
ed. BY filing or chipping away some
of the metal at the thickest part called
the '.soundbow," where the hammer or
clapper strikes, the tone is deepened; ;
whereas by reducing the diameter OF
the lower cige it is raised. The Great
Tom of Lincoln, though smaller than
the great bell Of St. Paul's is heavier,
on account Of its greater thickness,
and yields higher tone. Connoisseurs
in bell science aver that modern church
bells do not throw out such rich pene-
trating sounds as the bells cast many
centuries ago; and they attribute this
to the pernicious cravings for cheap
ness which is now besetting us. A
thin large bell will yield note Of the
same pitch as q smaller bell containing
greater thickness Of metal: but the
tone is poor and mea2re. The monster
bell at Moscow, which is estimated to
weigh four to five hundred thousand
pounds, never had the good fortune to
be hung up, and therefore its exacL
pitch can not be accurately stated. In
fact it can only have crazy pitch ut
best, seeing that there is broken gap
in it nearly as large as the side Of =
small room. When DR.. Clarke was in
Russia, he asked permission TO ASSAY
or analyze the metal Of which the bell
is composed, to ascertain. whether
silver is one Of the cOmpOnents, in
accordance with a popular theory but
his request was not complied with.
About thirty years ago, however the
late Emperor Nicholas caused ~