Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1886-01-19
MUSIC IN THE TOWERS.
SOME FACTS ABOUT CHIMES AND
BELLS AND THEIR MELODY.
How Thickness Of . Bell Affects Its Toas
The ..silver BslI'' Delusloa-Msnd-
ting . Cracked BELL - The
Practice Of Clsppertng.

How Thickness Of . BELL Affects Its TOns
The '.silver Bsll'' Delusioa-Nsad-
ting . Cracked He'll The
Practice Of CisPPertng.
"Sir Edmund Beckett, president Of the
British Horological institute" said .
dealer familiar with the subject, who
has made tn subject . special stuGy,
gives some very interesting facts about
bells. He says that there is fullness
and softness In the sound OF thick Ltll
which . thin one never has. The old
bell-founders evidently knew that 1t Is .
metal u only capable Of sounding . very
marrow range Of notes with good effect;
and II you infringe that law and make
your bells thinner for the sake Of getting
deeper notes out Of them you are as GER
tain, - usual in fighting with laws Of na-
ture. to pay for II by a more than equiva-
lent loas In the quality OF the tono. II
happens that this loss is even greater
now than II would have been = century
ago, on account Of the difference Of the
copper. II is less tough in working. cap
able of holding less tin without becom
ing too brittle, and apparently incapable
of q certain softness Of sound which even
thin old bells sometimes have, but these
new ones never do. Indeed, 1t must be
admitted that some Of the finest old
tenors are what we should now call thin.
They would probably have been better
still II they had been thicker. As peal
Of bells is luxury, meant to give pleas
ure to those who listen to them, and not
necessity OF life, IL is astonishing that
people will 60 on raising large subscrip-
tions for them without taking the least
trouble to ascertain that they get what
Is really the best thing for their money,
and forgetting that you pay for 'he same
weight Of, metal whether the bells are
thick or thin, only in one case you get
them Of the right notes for their weight
and in the other case.wrong, and 20 make
the bells bad instead Of good"
THE SILVER BELL ILLUSION.
swhat about the popular idea that
bells with silver in them give tie most
musical soundy'
MY best authority says the most in
veterate OF all popular delusions about
bells is the notion that old bells had sil-
yer In them. and that all bells would be
improved BY IL. There il not the slight
est foundation for that belief. Neverthe-
lesSthere wore some experiments made
for the purpose Of being quitSsurs that
silver WAS OF no use, either with refer
ence to sound or strength Of metal Sew
erG different proportions were tried,
beginning with small piece Of silver In
. bell Of nearly . pound In weight, and
it was clear that the silver rather did
harm than good in both respects. The
delusiOn very likely has arisen from the
ring Of pieces of silver, but which justified
no such inference. In fact. no compo-
sition for bells has yet been discovered
equal to copper and tin in the right pro-
portions There was large bell Of iron
and tin In the English exhibition Of 1851,
but that also was very inferior to bell
metal, and it required an enormous blow
TO bring out the sound, though It was
thin, and IL was at last cracked by these
blows"
Can large bells that are cracked b
mended SUCCESSFULLY
whenever . bell Of any importance
cracks, says Sir Edmund Beckett, there
invariably follows food Of Suggestions,
public and private, for mending 1t: gen.
orally by cutting out the crack In some
way or other; and Is there exists in some
persons what is called color blindness, %
there are persona to whom . bell % di-
vided sounds no worse than when il was
whole, though to other peoples ears the
tone u ssnerally altered several notes, Or
is made otherwise in1o1sgahly bod. An
other way Of mendiAe IL by what b
called burning the parta together, that
is cutting the crack wide enough to let
hot metal be poured In and through,
which Is done until the constant applica-
ton Of IL partially meets the faces Of the
division and then the running il stopped
and left to cool This may perhaps an
swer In very thin bells, but the contrae-
tion and consequent tension Of the metal
would most liksly crack the bell again -
soon ~ rung. There ID no evidence Of
any bell as large ~ common church
bell having been successfully treated in
this way yet. II the bell has cracked
from any radical defect it ID absurd to
think Of mending 1t, even II It were
otherwise possible, for the same defect
would make 1t crack again.
LITTLE BIT OF ADVICE.
1T Il still necessary to warn clergymen
and church wardens against allowing the
lazy and pernicious practice Of clapper-
ing-that is, tying the bell-rope to the
clapper and pulling It instead of the bell
More bells have been cracked in that
way than by all other causes together,
and there Is not the least excuse for IL, -
any man may learn to toll . bell in one
lesson, and the work of doing Il u moth
ing, for the bell moves 90 little that IL
seems wonderful that the clapper should
strike it; but they both act - pendu-
lums, which . very small impulse viii
keep up, and the blow being elastic loses
very little of its force.
when 1t has become impossible to
ring bells properly the best thing to do Il
to at them up for Ginning only, that ID,
toliing with levers. Though inferior to
ringing in some respects, and much les
interesting to ringers, it has . sweeter
sound, but feebler. The elappers ought
to be heavier for 1t, as they strike much
softer. When there are only three OF
four bells Ginning sounds much better
than ringing. The tolling Of three largo
bells has . very grand sound, and the
ringing Of two bells only frame high,
that Is, swinging up to horizontal, 20
that they strike quickly, has . pleasant
and lively sound. The windows of bell
chambers and of every opening in the
tower or spire above them should be COM
pletely covered with strong wire netting,
which must also he kept in repair, to
keep out birds, which otherwise all the
place with sticks and dirt. New York
Mail and Express.
PRESERVED EGGS At BIRMINGHAM
Details Il the Mstheds Enpleyed By the
Daecessfal Exhibitors.
The awards in the class for prservsd
eggs at Birmingham were made in the
first instance quite irrespective OF the