page_title: Bellfounding
section_title: Measurement and templating
hierarchical_section_title: Bellfounding / Casting process / Measurement and templating
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Modell. Vorbereitung für den Glockenguss. Vom Kern bis zur Zierlehmschicht mit Inschrift. Glockenmuseum Gescher. English: Construction of the moulds for casting of a church bell at the Glockenmuseum Gescher (Geschger Bell Museum). Showing the stages in construction of the outer mould (the cope). The wooden scraper defines the profile of the outer surface of the bell. Not shown is the construction of the inner mould (the drag).
context_page_description: Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use in such as churches, clock towers and public buildings, either to signify the time or an event, or as a musical carillon or chime. Large bells are made by casting bell metal in moulds designed for their intended musical pitches. Further fine tuning is then performed using a lathe to shave metal from the bell to produce a distinctive bell tone by sounding the correct musical harmonics.
  Bellfounding in East Asia dates from about 2000 BC and in Europe from the 4th or 5th century CE. In Britain, archaeological excavations have revealed traces of furnaces, showing that bells were often cast on site in pits in a church or its grounds. Centralised foundries became common when railways allowed easy transportation of bells, leading to the dominance of such as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and John Taylor & Co of Loughborough.
  Elsewhere in the world a number of foundries are still active, some using traditional methods, and some using the latest foundry techniques. Modern foundries produce harmonically tuned bells using principles established in the late 19th century; some of these are also highly decorative.
context_section_description: Firstly the bell profile is calculated to exact specifications to ensure it can be properly tuned. Two wooden templates called "strickle boards" are used to shape the moulding clay. One matches the dimensions of the outer bell (called the case or cope); the other matches that of the inner bell (called the core). . Generally these board are  stock profiles that have been developed empirically and by calculation for each size of bell.
caption: Bell moulds in the bell museum (Glockenmuseum) in Gescher, Germany. The wooden strickle boards, which are rotatable templates to ensure the correct mould profiles, can  clearly be seen.
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