The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-06-26
The Making Of Bella.

Only two metals are now used in large
bells-tin and copper. The Belgians use
twenty-three Of thirty per cent. of tin; the
English lean to more tin-twenty.6v to
thity-one per cent. Tin makes the bell
sound bright, but it also makes it brittle,
and the reason why the English can afford
to in put more of this brittle element is be-
cause thew make their bells thicker, as a
rule; and the reason why they are made
thicker is that instead of being merely
chimed, they are swung around on wheel,
which brings the hammer with great force
upon the bell. If we treated the delicate
Belgian bells in this rough fashion we
should probably crack them, though if it
were known they would be swung, the
Belgian makers could doubtless thicken
them to order; they are not meant IN Bel
gian to be whacked like big drums. but to
be struck with hammers from PIP to q, like
a piano forte. They reasonate more easily
than English bells, requiring a gentler
stroke to elicit their full tone. In word,
the Belgian bell is a musical note, not a
gong or drum. Secondly, the thickness
and general proportions Of the bell are Of
the utmost importance. Bells vary from
one-6fteenth to one-twelfth of the dame
ter at the thickest part Of the soundbow,
and the height Is commonly about twelve
times the thickness. English bells are,
roughly, as broad as they are long, If you
measure diameter from outside rim to rim,
and length from rim to top of cannon.
But, in truth, the thickness of the bell at
different levels is all important. The
thickness near the top is rs i'm
portant as that of the sound-bow,
and the diameter of the crown as critica
a dimention as that of the rim. The deep
rich tone lin proportion to size) Of the
smaller Belgian bells is probably largely
due to the wide top-diameter, combined
with the thinness in certain portions Of
the sides half way down. The way in
which altering the thickness affects the
tone, and even the pitch Of bell, is
shown by the fact that a sharp bell can be
flattened by shaving off the metal inside
above the sound-bow; and Mr.. Lewis tells
me that he has destroyed beats by SCOOP
ing the bell elsewhere until they disaD-
peared at a certain point, but that on con-
tinuing to scoop they reappeared. All
this shows how purely tentative and ex.
perimental is at present the art Of bell
founding IN England. In Belgium it is
not scientific, but emperlcal, the accunu-
lated experience of ages. A certain tact
or rule Of thumb takes the place of science;
rules there must be founded on principles,
but the masters cannot explain their Sc
crets, they produce the work of art;
others are left to discover the laws they
nave obeyed. When We we have analized
their methods we may be able to make
their bells. So thought the Germans
when they measured and analized
Raphael and Tintoret, and produced the
correct but lifeless banalifies of AIRY Schei.
fer; so Observation-Disclosures when he initiated
the very worm holes in the Amatis. but
for all that the French fiddles are not
Amatis. II may turn ont that in making
of rich musical bells like those of Van
Aerschodt there is something which can
not be taught-the instinct, the incom-
touch.