IMPROVEMENTS IN BELLS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Evans, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Bell Founder, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BELLS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Evans at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
November 1864.
I, JOHN EVANS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Bell Founder,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BELLS," to be as follows:-
It has hitherto been customary to hang the clapper of a bell from the roof
thereof loosely, it being generally merely suspended from a bent book or
staple; the objection to this is found to be, that when a bell is rung violently,
the clapper frequently runs round the inside of the bell without striking it, and
so making a false blow.
Now the object of this Invention is to hang or suspend the clapper of a bell
in such a manner as to give the clapper a direct action against whichever side
of the bell it may happen to strike. To effect this it is only necessary to
affix to that part of the roof of the bell usually occupied by the bent hook or
staple, a piece of metal provided with a pin or axis upon which the clapper
may vibrate, but which metal top piece has sides or cheeks projecting down-
wards, so as to form guides for the clapper, and confining its motion to a
direct plane.
It is proposed to employ this Invention in the manufacture of those bells
which have either wire clappers, wrought-iron clappers, or brass clappers.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Evans in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
EVANS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Bell Founder, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Evans, Her special licence that I, the said John
Evans, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Evans, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BELLS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Evans,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Evans, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
It has hitherto been customary to hang the clapper of a bell from the roof
thereof loosely, it being generally merely suspended from a bent hook or
staple; the objection to this is found to be, that when a bell is rung violently,
the clapper frequently runs round the inside of the bell without striking it,
so making a false blow.
Now the object of this Invention is to hang or suspend the clapper of a
bell in such a manner as to give the clapper a direct action against whichever
side of the bell it may happen to strike. To effect this it is only necessary to
affix to that part of the roof of the bell usually occupied by the bent book or
staple, a piece of metal provided with a pin or axis, upon which the clapper

page_text: may vibrate, but which metal top piece has sides or cheeks projecting down-
wards, so as to form guides for the clapper, and confining its motion to a direct
plane.
It is proposed to employ this Invention in the manufacture of those bells
which have either wire clappers, wrought or malleable iron clappers, or brass
clappers.
That my Invention may be better understood, I have annexed Drawings
thereof, which I now proceed to describe.
Fig. 1 is a section of a hand bell, and Fig. 2 of an ordinary house bell,
constructed after my improved method. The clapper is shewn detached in
Fig. 3. The same letters refer to similar parts in the three Drawings.
a is the metal top piece affixed to the roof of the bell b. It has sides or
cheeks c, between which may vibrate the clapper d, but in one direction or
plane only. The clapper d is hung upon the pin e, the notch f allowing the
pin e to enter the hole g. The notch f is afterwards closed up to prevent the
disengagement of the clapper d.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I desire it to be understood, that
without limiting myself to the precise details herein-before described, I desire
to claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent, the mode or manner of effecting the "Improvements in Bells,"
substantially as herein set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Evans, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
G. R. HOLLAND,
Patent Office,
Birmingham.
JOHN EVANS. (L.S.)