The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-10-19
COW BELLS.
Interesting Processes by Which They
are Made, Tempered and Furnished


are Made, Tempered and Furnished
st. Louis Globe-Democrat.
On hilly little side street in the troe-
empowered town of Collinsville Is hidden
a queer factory where are made the COW
bells that 60 juggling unsteady up hill
and down dale over such widely divers
ing paths.
A neat little business Office opens into
the wide spreading. shadowy place where
in is housed the machinery OF the plant,
as we'll as it's big hot furnace. The metal
for the bells Is received in the shape of
large. fiat sheets of thin iron direct from
the rolling mills. These sheets are pass
ed under a heavy steam-run cutter. which
trims out the properly shaped pieces. re-
sembTing patterns for a double bladed AK.
These pieces are taken in hand by
workman who fastens into the center a
ring for the clapper and spans 1t with
little iron strap for a handle and then
the piece is bent down into the familiar
bell shape and its sides riveted together
on the anvil.
Although the bell has grown into rec
ognizable shape, II lacks tone and color,
and these are gained by coating of brass
and a bath in fiery furnace. At this
stage the bells, which run in six or eight
sizes from the little 3-inch sheep bells to
the finch cow bells, are placed one with
in another until a nest of four or five Is
formed. The spaces between are nlled
with crushed charcoal and brass filings
Two nests are then placed together with
in a plumbago crucible resembling an I'M
glazed earthernware jar, whose lid of the
same material is held in place by a plas-
tering of wet clay, and the whole is ready
for the furnace.
The furnace is a great square of fire
brick and iron, with a large fire box in
which roars a furious soft coal fire.
There is side door opening into the fire
box behind the fire, and 1t is in this
chamber. filled with shimmering, rosy
heat that the crucibles are placed, some
two dozen at time. Within these heat
resisting crucibles a mysterious process
goes on. for the brass changes beth form
| and place and spends itself in a thin
| coat over the imprisoned bells.
After about forty-fve minutes the FUR
mace door is again opened, and WITHIN
| are seen the red-hot crucibles. which are
! lifted out on a long-handled shovel and
laid in a row on the ground out in the
| open air. When cooled to dull, dark
red, the lids are pried off by man with
a sharp iron pick nd a hammer, and
with long-handled pincers he throws the
bells into tubs of water to cool and tern
| per them. When cold they are ready for
! Furnishing, which office they are made to
perform for each other by inclosing LOT
of them in a big wooden Cylinder, which
is revolved by steam. and the friction oil
the bells against each other brightens
them. Sometimes a lot of leather scraps
are thrown in, which assist in the polish
ing AS the Jumbling bells make deat'
! ening noise, the Cylinder is shut away n
a tiny room by itself.
The bell tongues are made IN 1oun'
dries and come in all sizes, and arc
composed of a wire tipped at one end by
an iron ball while the other is bent into
a hook and clinched through the cop
per clapper ring. and 10! the bell is mn
| ished,
From 10000 to 5000 bells are mad;
yearly in this little factory, and through
the wholesale hardware houses are ship
ped TO all parts of this country and tc
places beyond the sea. 1t would be inte"'
esting to follow the bells from the factory
in that quiet little street to their fin1
destinations so widely separated
To the great cattle ranches of the Wesi
were sent recently lot of the bells toned
IN sets of an octave each, and the bel
bearers among the shifting herds ans
wered each others in a musical chime II