The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1928-07-09
$4,000 BELLS
TO Be PLACED
IN CATHEDRAL
English Carlton Donated
Here Will Be Largest
4 in World.
BY RAIDER Winget

A trade secret kept since 1896
and five centuries of craftsmanship
will be combined in the $4,000
carlton to be placed in the new
$2,5o0,oo0 Scottish Rite cathedral in
December.
The sixty-two tuned bells capable
of forty-nine notes will be some of
the finest in the world, and holds
the distinction of being the worlds
largest carlton.
All OF the bells, except the larg-
; est 11,200-pound bell, already are
cast and turned Ky the John Taylor
Bell Foundry of Loughborcugh
England, according to John Oldham,
representative of the firm, who
was in Indianapolis last week pre-
pairing for the installation of the
carlton, which is a gift of Arthur
r. Baxter.
Carlton music is the most ma
Jestic in the world, it is said, and is
bound with the traditions of the
old world. II was developed in the
Netherlands in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries by people who
held their carillons as their most
sacred possessions.
Treated as Spells of War
The bells were played only on
special holidays and often were
played in honor of visiting
celebrities. The player, or CARL
loneur, was one of the distinguished
citizens of the city and was ac-
corded honors.
The value and beauty of the bells
seems to have brought their down
fall. From the Sixteenth to the
Eighteenth century, carillons were
treated az spoils of war;" says Will
liam Gorham Rice, an historical
authority on carillonS.
Bells captured in the wars were
sometimes recast into cannons or
carried away as trophies, or again
they were ransomed as a towns
most priced possession"
The secret of tuning bells for
carillonS was lost during that period,
and it remained for the John Taylor
Company to rediscover it.
w. w. Starmer, Tunbridge, Eng
land, carlton authority, gives
credit to Taylor for the first ex-
amples Of scientifically tuned bells
made in recent years.
Rediscovered Tuning Secret
'"The Taylor Company either es-
tablished or red'gcovered a method
Of tuning harmonics, which must
have been known to such founders
as the Hemonys and Van den Gheyn,
but which was lost to the world for
. at least two centuries" Starmer
said.
Is To one who never has heard CARL
Ion music, it's deep toned beauty is
difficult to imagine, it is said. When
the New York carilllon, which is
said to be second to the Scottish
Rite carlton in beauty and tone,
was first played, traffic was stopped
and thousands of persons gathered
in the streets to hear the concert.
The tune sometimes can be heard
for more than two miles.
Says Rice, the authority, "the
chromatic characteristics, combined
with the extended compass and
range in size of the bells, enables a
master Of carlton keyboard not
only to play the notes of a great va
riety of music, but to interpret it's
. sentiment and to produce effects
which are distinctive and peculiarly
a property of this majestic inStru-
r1ent."
Cast Largest Bell
The Taylor Bell Foundry sprung
from the bell foundry of Johannes
De Stafford at Leicester, England,
which started about 1366-70. The
business was inherited by sons of
the makers and by skilled appren-
tics, who work all their life to learn
y the trade.
Edmund Denison Taylor is the
present owner and is assisted by his
nephew, Pryce Taylor. All tuning
is done by the Taylors, who alone
are said to hold the secret.
WHICH OlOlldlll 1C4J 1IIlSIdIlQ xOI
Indianapolis about two weeks ago,
the largest Rite bell was being cast
and probably now is being tuned. 1t
is seven feet across the mouth and
more than seven feet high.
The bell is inverted, and a rotary
lathe inserted in the inside. Taylor
marks certain portions that must
be shaved off to produce the prop
er tone, and II workman operates the
lathe.
Five Distinct Tones
The bell are tuned to five distinct
tones. The strike tone predominates,
but the over tone and under tone
which are an octave higher and
lower are heard distinctly. Two tones
in between these two must also be
adjusted. Anyone can cast a bell,
but master craftsman must tune
it's five tones. Bells now are being
developed with seven tones.
The finest carlton in the world is
being placed in the bird sanctuary
of Mountain Lake, Fla, by William
Edward Box, publisher, by the Tay-
lor Company, according to Oldham.
The first carlton was place in the
United States in 1922 by Gillet and
Johnston, Croydon, England, also
classed as one of the best bell
foundrieS in the world.
It is said that an internationally
known carillonneur will be imported
to NAV the first concert on the Rite