Thomas L. Papillon and Hugh M. Ross

“ Thus the chief bell in the cathedral often belonged to the town, not to the cathedral chapter. The curfew, the Carolus and St Mary’s bell in the Antwerp tower all belong to the town; the rest are the property of the chapter. He who commanded the bell commanded the town; for by that sound, at a moment’s notice, he could rally and concentrate his adherents. Hence a conqueror commonly acknowledged the political importance of bells by melting them down; and the cannon of the conquered was in turn melted up to supply the garrison with bells to be used in the suppression of revolts. ”

“ Unless, however, the bells of any given “ring” are in perfect tune and harmony with each other, their musical effect must be impaired, however well they are rung. This gives importance to the science and art of bell-tuning, in which great progress has been made (see above) .
The art of scientific change-ringing, peculiar to England, does not seem to have been evolved before the middle of the 17th century. Societies or gilds of ringers, however, existed much earlier. ”

“ To tune a series of bells properly, the fundamental tone of each bell must be brought into true octave with its nominal, and the whole series of bells, thus rectified, put into tune with each other. The “hum-note” of each, which is the tone of the whole mass of metal, should also be in tune with the others. If flatter than the nominal, it cannot be sharpened ”

“ A lightly poised pendulum is often attached to each bell, to show by its motion when it has been rung. In pneumatic bells the wires are replaced by pipes of narrow bore, and the current of air which is caused to flow along these by the pressing of a push-button actuates a small hammer which impinges rapidly against a bell or gong. An electric bell consists of a small electro-magnet acting on a soft iron armature which is supported in such a way that normally it stands away from the magnet. ”

“ The great bell cast by the same founders for Beverley Minster is in perfect tune; and with the improved machinery now in use, there is no reason why this should not henceforth be the case with all church bells.
The quality of a bell depends not only on the casting and the fineness and mixture of metals, but upon the due proportion of metal to the calibre of the bell. The larger the bell the lower the tone; but if we try to make a large E bell with metal only enough for a smaller F bell, the E bell will be puny and poor. ”

“ When the armature is attracted by the magnet it breaks contact with this spring, the current is interrupted, and the magnet being no longer energized allows the armature to fall back on the spring and thus restore the circuit. In this way a rapid to and fro motion is imparted to the hammer. The electric current is supplied by a battery, usually either of Leclanché or of dry cells. One bell will serve for all the rooms of a house, an “indicator” being provided to show from which it has been rung. ”

“ Very few bells, however, have any two of these notes, and hardly any all three, in unison—the “hum-notes” being generally a little sharper, and the “fundamentals” a little flatter, than their respective “nominals.” In tuning a “ring” or series of bells, the practice of founders has hitherto been to take one set of notes (in England usually the nominals, on the continent the fundamentals) and put these into tune, leaving the other tones to take care of themselves. But in different circumstances different tones assert themselves. ”

“ In the old system, which has been largely superseded by pneumatic and still more by electric bells, the bells themselves are of the ordinary conical shape and are provided with clappers hung loosely inside them. Being supported on springs they continue to swing, and therefore to give out sound as the clapper knocks against the sides, for some time after they have been set in motion by means of the strings or wires by which each is connected to a bell-pull in the rooms. ”

“ In ringing, or in true chiming, the bell is in motion when struck.
For ringing, a bell is pulled up and “set” mouth uppermost. She (to ringers a bell is feminine) is then pulled off, first at “handstroke” (i.e. with the hands on the “sally” or tufted portion of the rope, a few feet from its lower end) and then at “back-stroke” in the reverse direction (with the hands nearer the lower end, the rope having at the previous pull coiled round three-quarters of the wheel’s circumference) , describing at each pull almost a full circle till she comes back to the upright position. ”

“ Mechanical ringing is more common on the continent of Europe, especially in Belgium and Flanders; ringing by hand is more common in England, where the development of change-ringing (see below) has brought it into prominence.
(1) Mechanical ringing is effected by a system of wires connected with small hammers striking the bells, usually on their outside, and worked either by connexion with the machinery of a clock, so as to play tunes or artificially arranged chimes at definite intervals ”

“ Bell Tones and Tuning.—A good bell, fairly struck, should give out three distinct notes—a “fundamental” note or “tonic”; the octave above, or “nominal”; and the octave below, or “hum-note.” (It also gives out the “third” and “fifth” above the fundamental; but of these it is less necessary to take notice.) ”

“ Other old customs are naturally connected with the ecclesiastical uses of bells. The “Passing Bell,” rung for the dying, is now generally rung after death; the ancient mode of indicating the sex of the deceased, viz. two pulls for a woman and three for a man being still very common, with many varying customs as regards the interval after death or the bell to be used, e.g. smaller bells for children and females, and larger ones for aged men ”

“ The general diffusion of clocks and watches has rendered bells less necessary for marking the events of daily life; and most of these old customs have either disappeared or are fast disappearing. At Strassburg a large bell of eight tons weight, known as the “Holy Ghost Bell,” is only rung when two fires are seen in the town at once ”

“ Then the crook is made, which is a kind of double wooden compass, the legs of which are respectively curved to the shape of the inner and outer sides of the bell, a space of the exact form and thickness of the bell being left betwixt them. The compass is pivoted on a stake driven into the bottom of the casting-pit. A stuffing of brickwork is built round the stake, leaving room for a fire to be lighted inside it. ”

“ For domestic purposes, however, the bells are arranged so that the hammer strikes a series of strokes, continuing so long as the push-button which closes the electric circuit is pressed. A light spring is provided against which the armature rests when it is not attracted by the electro-magnet, and the current is arranged to pass through this spring and the armature on its way to the magnet. ”

“ The second method is peculiar to the “carillon” (q.v.) , as found everywhere in Belgium, where with a set of from 20 or 30 to 60 or 70 bells a much wider scope for tunes and harmonies is provided than in English belfries, few of which have more than one octave of bells in one key only and none more than 12 bells. The carillons at Louvain and Bruges contain 40 bells, and that of Mechlin 44, while in the tower of Antwerp cathedral there are upwards of 90 bells, for the largest of which, cast in 1507, Charles V. stood sponsor at its consecration. ”

“ The number of possible “changes” on any given series of bells may be ascertained, according to the mathematical formula of “permutations,” by multiplying the number of the bells together. Thus on three bells, only 6 changes or variations of order (1✕2✕3) can be produced; on four bells, 1✕2✕3✕4=24; on five, 24✕5=120; on six, 120✕6=720; on seven, 720✕7=5040. A “peal” on any such number of bells is in ordinary language the ringing of all the possible changes. But technically, only the full extent of changes upon seven bells, usually rung with a “tenor behind,” is called a “peal” ”