IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR AND OTHER BELLS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Bennett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 10th
July 1871. Partly a communication from abroad by George J.
Stocks, of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada.
I, ALFRED BENNETT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DOOR AND OTHER BELLS," to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists of the combinations or arrangements
herein-after described of the parts of the mechanism of door and other
bells.
When it is wished to effect the ringing of the bell by a rotating
handle the parts of the bell are constructed and arranged in the following
manner: The bell is supported on a pillar or support carried by a
hollow base plate, within which base plate the hammers or strikers and
the actuating mechanism of the bell are contained. Two hammers or

page_text: strikers are used, one on either side the central support of the bell.
The said hammers or strikers consist of cranked levers, the horizontal
arms of the said hammer levers being pressed upon by a spring or
springs. Between the vertical arms of the hammers or strikers and near
the axis of the base plate is a three-arm lever turning on a centre. The
bottom arm of the three-arm lever is acted upon through the handle of
the bell, and the other and top arms of the said three-arm lever respec-
tively bear against the horizontal arms of the hammers or strikers.
The handle of the bell is fixed upon a square spindle, and the said spindle
passes through and gives motion to a rotating socket piece working
in the base plate of the bell. On the inner face of this socket piece
and at the edge thereof are three pins or tappets, either of which can
be made to act upon the bottom arm of the three-arm lever. When
the handle of the bell is turned, say, to the right one of the pins or
tappets of the rotating socket piece acting upon the bottom arm of
the three-arm lever turns the said lever on its joint and causes one
of the top arms of the said three-arm lever to raise the horizontal arm
of the hammer or striker at the right-hand side of the base plate and lift
its hammer or acting end from the bell. On the pin or tappet of the
rotating socket piece escaping from the arm described of the three-arm
lever the hammer or striker is released, and by the action of its spring
made to strike the bell, the hammer or striker as it moves to strike the
bell restoring the three-arm lever to its original position. On turning
the handle of the bell to the left the same action takes place, one of
the top arms of the three-arm lever operating upon the hammer or
striker at the left-hand side of the base plate. Thus the motion of
the handle of the bell in either direction causes the bell to be rung.
If the handle requires to be fixed at a considerable distance from
the bell the use of a rotatory handle is undesirable, as the axis
requires to be made strong and heavy in order to prevent torsion therein.
In such cases the parts are arranged in the following manner :- -The
bell, its support, and the base plate remain the same. The rod by
which the ringing is effected also passes through the base plate as in
the arrangement already described, but instead of acting by rotation it
acts by a sliding motion, being pulled forward in the act of ringing
and restored to its normal position by a spring. In this arrangement
one striker is used instead of two as in the arrangement first described.

page_text: Besides being applicable to doors, bells constructed according to this
Invention are applicable to carriages and to communicating between
rooms, and generally to all purposes to which bells rung by the turning
or pulling of a handle may be applied.