San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-08
THE TINKLING BELLS.
THE IMPORTANT DETAILS IN THEIR
CONSTRUCTION.
How the Metal Is Prepared and Poured.
To Polish Up the Bell for the Big Front
Door-Death of the Old Time Cow Bell
Being Tolled.

The use of small bells for so many differ
ent purposes has caused great increase in
the number of establishments devoted exclu-
sively to their manufacture. In these facto-
ries are employed hundreds of skilled work
men, with complete and modernized ma
chinery. Thousands of dollars are annually
expended in experimenting and otherwise
advancing the art of improving the tone for
the use and pleasure of mankind.
The bell of today is great Improvement
upon that made centuries ago. Even then,
crude as was its manufacture, it served well
its purposes, for in its past history it is found
playing an important part in religious wor-
ship, in social joys and sorrows and historic
events.
The development has been slow: in form
there has been but little change, yet in manu-
facture, tone and appliances great improve
ment has been made.
Old fashioned bells We're made by hand,
and were fashioned out of brass, pewter sill
yer or gold. The art of casting was then
unknown. In these latter days the mode OF
manufacture is completely changed. : Bells
are no longer wrought out by hand, but are
cast in molds.
NOT so SIMPLE AS IT LOOKS.
In times past it took one man several days,
and perhaps weeks, to make a bell. With
the facilities of the present hundreds are
made in one day, saving much time and
labor.
To meet the increasing demand for small
bells in various forms, large plants have been
built, which give employment to hundreds of
men and women. 1t is said that the greater
portion of these hands have been born into
and brought up in the business, a very help
full circumstance, as both the eye and ear
must be trained and attuned to readily detect
any flaw and to note the correct tone.
As simple as bell appears to one who care
lessly looks at it, much care must be exercised
in its construction. A careless workman is
not allowed in bell factory. The success of
the bell, from the reverberating furnace to
the polishing room, depends upon the careful
attention given it by each of the operators
through whose hands it passes.
Every bell manufacturer, whether he casts
large or small bells, has his own pet formula
for their composition. In making the metal,
commonly called bell metal, nearly every
factory has its reverberatory furnace, its
smelling furnaces and its molding rooms. The
usual mode of making small bells is by casting
lot of them at time in iron boxes called
TASKS
In a reverberatory furnace is thrown waste
brass gathered from brass manufacturers, all
kinds of copper, spelter brass, tin composition,
bits of iron, chips of composition from loco
motives, engines, and washingS from the
skimmings of brass foundries, which are all
melted together This mixture produces what
is called ingot metal. This again is melted
and filtered while hot through charcoal in a
cupola furnace. 1t is then put into pot
lined with blue clay and placed over a hot
fire, which refines the metal burning out en-
tirely all the baser portions and leaving little
but copper.
After this the molten mass is taken from
the fire, and given percentage of tin added,
making, it is claimed, the best known bell
matter of copper and tin ever discovered
The patterns from which the bells of va
rious shapes, sizes and thickness are made are
Of wood, and duplicate patterns are after
wards made of brass or soft metal. The du-
plicates are sent to the molder, who makes
his mold in two TASKS. These contain Al
bany sand, which has previously been
"soured' by the addition of vinegar, mo-
Iasses and water From four to sixty bells,
ia.
When the TASKS are all ready, and have been
placed on the bench, red hot metal is poured
into the holes at the top from a large ladle
which had previously been resting on the
charcoal fire. This having been done, the
TASKS and contents are allowed to cool
BELLS OF MANY KINDS.
The bells on coming from the mold arc
rough and unsightly. There are two ways Of
getting rid of this roughness and producing a
polished surface. The first is applied to the
COarser grades, which include common sleigh
bells which have been made of the poorest
materials The usual mode is to throw about
three bushels Of these bells, of all sizes, into
slowly revolving wooden cylinder containing
a good supply Of scrap leather Here they
revolye one against the other for eight hours.
At the end Of that time they are taken out,
smooth and bright, with high polish. The
second method is to polish the finer grades,
which includes gOngs and hand bells that are
made out of new metal exclusively, upon a
lathe that makes :, 900 revolutions per minute
After they have all received their polish
they are taken to the finishing room, where
the tongues, handles, springs, clappers, fast
enlngs and other contrivances are all put in
place by especially adapted machinery. In
some manufactures the bells are plated with
gold, nickel or silver in a separate room by
the usual process.
Bells are also made of steel and glass
Those made OF steel do not compare favor
ably in tone with those made Of bell metal.
Yet great many are made of cast steel in
the form Of gongs, and are bronzed over and
used for Office bells. Those made of glass are
1sed for special purposes They give an ex-
tremely pure sound but are so brittle that