Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-01-22
BELLS.
How Far They May be HeaTd--Ths
Largest Bell Ever Made in This
Country.

now ar Lney may De uedfu-- IT
Largest Bell Ever Made in Thi;
Country.
In a billy locality, says the
Scientific American, bell will
not be he;ird half as far as if the
land was level, or nearly so. A
bell will be heard a great deal
further lengthways of valley
than over the hills at the sides.
1t is frequently the case that
bell-rooms are lower than the
surrounding buildings and trees,
and these distractions break the
sound and prevent its free pas
sage to q distance. 1t is fire.
Iquently the case, too, that towers
have small windows or openings,
with the louver boards SO close
together as to almost box up the
sound. In cities, the noise of
steam, and horse cars. nanufac--
tories, carriages, and carts rat
ting ever the pavements, &c., is
so great that bells are not expect
ed to be heard at any great dis
tance, and this is the reason why,
in all cities, several bells are
used for fire alarm purposes, il
being impossible for one bell, no
matter how large it may be, to
be heard above the thousand and
one noises incident to every large
place. The largest bell ever
made in this country weighed
$4,000 pounds and before it was
fractured hung in the City Hall
in New York. On enc or two
occasions this bell was heard up
the Hudson River thirteen miles
at night, when the city was COM
paratively quiet. Water is a
good conductor of sound, and
aided materially in making the
bell heard, as above mentioned.
1t is great mistake to suppose
that bells can be heard in pro-
portion to their weight; that is
that bell weighing two thou
sand pounds will be heard twice
as far as one of one thousand
pounds. This is not so, for the
reason that the larger bell does
not possess anything. like twice
the amount of resonant surface
of the smaller one. What is
gained and admired in the larger
bell is its deep,majestic, dignifed
tone, which it is impossible to
secure in the smaller one, the
weight of the bell invariably gov
erning the force. The bell of
one hundred or two hundred
pounds, in an open belfrey, on
school house or factory in the
country, is frequently heard at
long distance, out OF all propor-
ton, apparently, to one of 1000
pounds in a church tower near
by; and instances Of this kind
frequently cause no little COM
nent in the way of comparison.
The reason for this is that the
small bell has a sharp, shrill, pen
sound, that must Of ne
,essity be heard a great deal
further, in proportion to its
weight, than the low, mellow,
'church-going" sound of the
,hurch-bell. The same rule ap-
llies to the whistle Of locomo-
lve, and it is heard a long dis
.ance simply because its tone is
'hrill and penetrating. When
lung stationary and struck or
oiled, bells will not be heard
lalf as far, as a rule, as when it
S swung. The swinging motion
.hrows the mouth of the bell up,
md not only carries the sound
,ff, but imparts to it a richness
hat is absent when the bell is
it rest and struck. A great
teal is to be gained by ringing
bell properly, throwing the
mouth well up, and not lazily
jingling it. 1t is not physical
strength that is required in ring
ne a bell so much as "getting the
lnack" of catching the rope just
light, particularly on the second
down pull" The window in
he tower should be as open as
,ossible, and the tower should be
eiled just above the windows.