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85-408: The belfry is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple . It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached to a city hall or other civic building. A belfry encloses the bell chamber , the room in which the bells are housed; its walls are pierced by openings which allow

170-406: A base-plate on which an inner core has been constructed. The core is built on the base-plate using porous materials such as coke or brick and then covered in loam well mixed with straw and horse manure. This is given a profile corresponding to the inside shape of the finished bell and dried with gentle heat. Graphite and whiting are applied to form the final, smooth surface. The outside of

255-499: A beam (the "headstock") so they can swing to and fro. Bells that are hung dead are normally sounded by hitting the sound bow with a hammer or occasionally by pulling an internal clapper against the bell. Where a bell is swung, it can either be swung over a small arc by a rope and lever or by using a rope on a wheel to swing the bell higher. As the bell swings higher the sound is projected outwards rather than downwards. Larger bells may be swung using electric motors. In some places, such as

340-501: A bell is part of a set to be rung or played together, then the initial dominant perceived sound, called the strike note, must be tuned to a designated note of a common scale. In addition each bell will emit harmonics, or partials, which must also be tuned so that these are not discordant with the bell's strike note. This is what Fuller-Maitland writing in Grove's dictionary of music and musicians meant when he said : "Good tone means that

425-437: A bell must be in tune with itself." The principal partials are; Further, less dominant, partials include the major, third and perfect fifth in the octave above these. "Whether a founder tunes the nominal or the strike note makes little difference, however, because the nominal is one of the main partials that determines the tuning of the strike note." A heavy clapper brings out lower partials (clappers often being about 3% of

510-410: A bell's mass), while a higher clapper velocity strengthens higher partials (0.4 m/s being moderate). The relative depth of the "bowl" or "cup" part of the bell also determines the number and strength of the partials in order to achieve a desired timbre. Bells are generally around 80% copper and 20% tin ( bell metal ), with the tone varying according to material. Tone and pitch is also affected by

595-488: A blow from the outside by a large swinging beam. (See images of the great bell of Mii-dera below.) The striking technique is employed worldwide for some of the largest tower-borne bells because swinging the bells themselves could damage their towers. In the Roman Catholic Church and among some High Lutherans and Anglicans , small hand-held bells, called Sanctus or sacring bells , are often rung by

680-641: A break or repetition. They have also been used in many kinds of popular music , such as in AC/DC 's " Hells Bells " and Metallica 's " For Whom the Bell Tolls ". The ancient Chinese bronze chime bells called bianzhong or zhong / zeng (鐘) were used as polyphonic musical instruments and some have been dated at between 2000 and 3600 years old. Tuned bells have been created and used for musical performance in many cultures but Zhong are unique among all other types of cast bells in several respects and they rank among

765-496: A bulge around the middle; In 1999 a design without the bulge was announced. However, the major bell concept has found little favour; most bells cast today are almost universally minor third bells. Bells are also associated with clocks , indicating the hour by the striking of bells. Indeed, the word clock comes from the Latin word Cloca , meaning bell . Bells in clock towers or bell towers can be heard over long distances, which

850-427: A carillon; six or eight-bell towers are common, with the largest rings in numbering up to sixteen bells. The bells are usually tuned to fall in a diatonic scale without chromatic notes; they are traditionally numbered from the top downwards so that the highest bell (called the treble ) is numbered 1 and the lowest bell (the tenor ) has the highest number; it is usually the tonic note of the bells' scale. To swing

935-425: A church, clock and tower bells are normally cast from bell metal. Bells intended to be heard over a wide area can range from a single bell hung in a turret or bell-gable , to a musical ensemble such as an English ring of bells , a carillon or a Russian zvon which are tuned to a common scale and installed in a bell tower . Many public or institutional buildings house bells, most commonly as clock bells to sound

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1020-463: A continent has 13. Scotland 24, Ireland 37, US 48, Australia 59 and Wales 227. The remaining 6,798 (95.2%) are in England (including three mobile rings). Change ringing originated following the invention of English full-circle tower bell ringing in the early 17th century, when bell ringers found that swinging a bell through a much larger arc than that required for swing-chiming gave control over

1105-457: A distinctive, mournful effect. This was done at the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. A carillon , which is a musical instrument consisting of at least 23 cast bronze cup-shaped bells, is tuned so that the bells can be played serially to produce a melody, or sounded together to play a chord. A traditional carillon is played by striking a baton keyboard with the fists, and by pressing

1190-411: A few hundred rows or so is called a touch . A performance of all the possible permutations possible on a set of bells is called an extent , with n {\displaystyle n} bells there are n {\displaystyle n} ! possible permutations. With five bells 5! = 120 which takes about 5 minutes. With seven bells 7! = 5,040 which takes about three hours to ring. This

1275-481: A good bell. Much effort has been expended over the centuries to find the shape which will produce the harmonically tuned bell. The accompanying musical staves show the series of harmonics which are generated when a bell is struck. The Erfurt bell is notable that it although it is an old bell, it is harmonically tuned, but was not typical of its time. Pieter and François Hemony in the 17th century reliably cast many bells for carillons of unequalled quality of tuning for

1360-561: A homophone meaning both "cool" and "refreshing", are spherical bells which contain metal pellets that produce sound from the inside. The hemispherical bell is the Kane bell, which is struck on the outside. Large suspended temple bells are known as bonshō . (See also ja:鈴 , ja:梵鐘 ). Jain , Hindu and Buddhist bells, called " Ghanta " (IAST: Ghaṇṭā) in Sanskrit, are used in religious ceremonies. See also singing bowls . A bell hangs at

1445-425: A keyboard of wooden batons played with the hands and pedals played with the feet. Often housed in bell towers , carillons are usually owned by churches, universities, or municipalities. They can include an automatic system through which the time is announced and simple tunes are played throughout the day. Carillons come in many designs, weights, sizes, and sounds. They are among the world's heaviest instruments, and

1530-467: A large diameter wheel attached to the bell swings it down and the assembly's own momentum propels the bell back up again on the other side of the swing. Each alternate pull or stroke is identified as either handstroke or backstroke —handstroke where the "sally" (the fluffy area covered with wool) is pulled followed by a pull on the plain "tail". At East Bergholt in the English county of Suffolk , there

1615-705: A minor third as a main harmonic. On the theory that western music in major keys may sound better on bells with a major third as a harmonic, production of bells with major thirds was attempted in the 1980s. Scientists at the Technical University in Eindhoven, using computer modelling, produced bell profiles which were cast by the Eijsbouts Bellfoundry in the Netherlands. They were described as resembling old Coke bottles in that they had

1700-704: A pattern describing his or her bell's course from row to row; taken together, these patterns (along with only occasional calls made by a conductor) form an algorithm which cycles through the various available permutations dictated by the number of bells available. There are hundreds of these methods which have been composed over the centuries and all have names, some being very fanciful. Better-known examples such as Plain Bob, Reverse Canterbury, Grandsire and Double Oxford are familiar to most ringers. Serious ringing always starts and ends with rounds; and it must always be true —each row must be unique, never repeated. A performance of

1785-510: A popular hobby in the late 17th century, in the Restoration era; the scientific approach which led to modern method ringing can be traced to two books of that era, Tintinnalogia or the Art of Ringing (published in 1668 by Richard Duckworth and Fabian Stedman ) and Campanalogia (also by Stedman; first released 1677; see Bibliography ). Today change ringing remains most popular in England but

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1870-478: A range of slightly less than five octaves but thanks to their dual-tone capability, the set can sound a complete 12-tone scale—predating the development of the European 12-tone system by some 2000 years—and can play melodies in diatonic and pentatonic scales. Another related ancient Chinese musical instrument is called qing ( 磬 pinyin qìng) but it was made of stone instead of metal. In more recent times,

1955-510: A server at Mass when the priest holds high up first the host and then the chalice immediately after he has said the words of consecration over them (the moment known as the Elevation ). This serves to indicate to the congregation that the bread and wine have just been transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ (see transubstantiation ), or, in the alternative Reformation teaching, that Christ

2040-483: A small bell-tower resting on the top of the barn . The bell was used to call the workers from the field at the end of the day's work. In folk tradition , it is recorded that each church and possibly several farms had their specific rhymes connected to the sound of the specific bells. An example is the Pete Seeger and Idris Davies song " The Bells of Rhymney ". In Scotland, up until the nineteenth century, it

2125-514: Is a unique set of bells that are not in a tower and are rung full circle by hand. They are the heaviest ring of five bells listed in Dove's Guide for Church Bell Ringers with a tenor of 26 long cwt 0 qr 8 lb (2,920 lb or 1,324 kg) and a combined weight of 4 long tons 5 cwt 2 qr 24 lb (9,600 lb or 4.354 t). These rings of bells have relatively few bells, compared with

2210-640: Is also known as the Steinhaus–Johnson–Trotter algorithm ). In call change ringing , one of the ringers (known as the Conductor ) calls out to tell the other ringers how to vary their order. The timing of the calls and changes of pattern accompanying them are made at the discretion of the Conductor and so do not necessarily involve a change of ringing sequence at each successive stroke as is characteristic of method ringing . Some ringers, notably in

2295-427: Is an English mechanism devised for chiming by striking stationary bells with external hammers. However it does not have the same sound as full circle ringing due to the absence of the doppler effect derived from bell rotation and the lack of a damping effect of the clapper after each strike. It requires only one person to operate. Each hammer is connected by a rope to a fixed frame in the bell-ringing room. When in use

2380-558: Is housed. They may be found in towers which are free-standing or connected to a building. The bells of a carillon may be directly exposed to the elements or hidden inside the structure of their tower. The origins of the carillon can be traced to the Low Countries —present-day Belgium, the Netherlands, and the French Netherlands —in the 16th century. The modern carillon was invented in 1644 when Jacob van Eyck and

2465-484: Is now bodily present in the elements, and that what the priest is holding up for them to look at is Christ himself (see consubstantiation ). In Russian Orthodox bell ringing , the entire bell never moves, only the clapper. A complex system of ropes is developed and used uniquely for every bell tower. Some ropes (the smaller ones) are played by hand, the bigger ropes are played by foot. Japanese Shintoist and Buddhist bells are used in religious ceremonies. Suzui ,

2550-408: Is one who studies campanology, though it is popularly misused to refer to a bell ringer . In English style (see below) full circle ringing , the bells in a church tower are hung so that on each stroke the bell swings through a complete circle; actually a little more than 360 degrees. Between strokes, it briefly sits poised 'upside-down', with the mouth pointed upwards; pulling on a rope connected to

2635-498: Is played with two wooden sticks. When the skrabalai is moved a clapper knocks at the wall of the trough. The pitch of the sound depends on the size of the wooden trough. The instrument developed from wooden cowbells that shepherds would tie to cows' necks. Whereas the church and temple bells called to mass or religious service, bells were used on farms for more secular signalling. The greater farms in Scandinavia usually had

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2720-482: Is practiced worldwide; over four thousand peals are rung each year. Dorothy L. Sayers 's mystery novel The Nine Tailors (1934) centres around change ringing of bells in a Fenland church; her father was a clergyman. The bells in Russian tradition are sounded by their clappers, attached to ropes; a special system of ropes is developed individually for every belltower. All the ropes are gathered in one place, where

2805-463: Is the definition of a full peal on 7 (5,000 or more for other numbers of bells.) Less demanding is the quarter peal of 1,260 changes. When ringing peals and quarter peals on fewer bells several complete extents are rung consecutively. When ringing on higher numbers of bells less than a complete extent is rung. On eight bells the extent is 8!=40,320 which has only been accomplished once, taking nearly nineteen hours. Ringing in English belltowers became

2890-618: 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 BCE 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

2975-440: Is undertaken by clamping the bell on a large rotating table and using a cutting tool to remove metal. This is an iterative process in which metal is removed from certain parts of the bell to change certain harmonics. This process was made possible historically by the use of tuning forks to find sympathetic resonance on specific parts of a bell for the harmonic being tuned, but today electronic strobe tuners are normally used. To tune

3060-711: The Hemony brothers cast the first tuned carillon. The instrument experienced a peak until the late-18th century, a decline during the French Revolution , a revival in the late 19th century, a second decline during the First and Second World Wars , and a second revival thereafter. UNESCO has designated 56 belfries in Belgium and France as a World Heritage Site and recognized the carillon culture of Belgium as an intangible cultural heritage . The Ellacombe apparatus

3145-488: The Salzburg Cathedral , the clapper is held against the sound bow with an electric clasp as the bell swings up. The clasp would release the clapper to provide a cleaner start to ringing. To silence the bell, the clasp catches and locks the clapper back in place. Bells hung for full circle ringing are swung through just over a complete circle from mouth uppermost. A stay (the wooden pole seen sticking up when

3230-567: The UK . In towers where the apparatus remains intact, it is generally used like a carillon , but to play simple tunes, or if expertise exists, to play changes. Bellfounding is the casting and tuning of large bronze bells in a foundry for use such as in 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

3315-489: The tomb of Marquis Yi , ruler of Zeng , one of the Warring States . Their special shape gives them the ability to produce two different musical tones , depending on where they are struck. The interval between these notes on each bell is either a major or minor third , equivalent to a distance of four or five notes on a piano. The bells of Marquis Yi—which were still fully playable after almost 2500 years—cover

3400-546: The 13th century BC, bells weighing over 150 kilograms (330 pounds) were being cast in China. After 1000 AD, iron became the most commonly used metal for bells instead of bronze. The earliest dated iron bell was manufactured in 1079, found in Hubei Province . Bells west of China did not reach the same size until the 2nd millennium AD. Assyrian bells dated to the 7th century BC were around 4 inches high. Roman bells dated to

3485-572: The 1st and 2nd century AD were around 8 inches high. The book of Exodus in the Bible notes that small gold bells were worn as ornaments on the hem of the robe of the high priest in Jerusalem . Among the ancient Greeks , handbells were used in camps and garrisons and by patrols that went around to visit sentinels. Among the Romans, the hour of bathing was announced by a bell. They also used them in

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3570-518: The West of England where there is a strong call-change tradition, ring call changes exclusively but for others, the essence of change ringing is the substantially different method ringing. As of 2015 there are 7,140 English style rings. The Netherlands, Pakistan, India, and Spain have one each. The Windward Isles and the Isle of Man have 2 each. Canada and New Zealand 8 each. The Channel Isles 10. Africa as

3655-418: The balance-point when little effort is required. Swinging bells are sounded by an internal clapper. The clapper may have a longer period of swing than the bell. In this case, the bell will catch up with the clapper and if rung to or near full circle will carry the clapper up on the bell's trailing side. Alternatively, the clapper may have a shorter period and catch up with the bell's leading side, travel up with

3740-519: The belfrey with bells, and by dissimilation or by association the word was successively spelled bellfrey, belfrey, and finally belfry. In larger towns, explains Kingsley Amis , watchmen placed in towers were also on the lookout for fires. Though flags were used by the watchmen for communication, these towers usually contained an alarm bell or bells built into a bell-cot , thus Middle English speakers thought berfrei had something to do with bells: they altered it to belfry , an interesting example of

3825-519: The bell is the tubular bell . Several of these metal tubes which are struck manually with hammers, form an instrument named tubular bells or chimes . In the case of wind or aeolian chimes, the tubes are blown against one another by the wind. The skrabalai is a traditional folk instrument in Lithuania which consists of wooden bells of various sizes hanging in several vertical rows with one or two wooden or metal small clappers hanging inside them. It

3910-482: The bell or bells are installed within the tower. The Old French berfroi or alike has become beffroi [ fr ] in modern French . Bell (instrument) Bells are usually cast from bell metal (a type of bronze ) for its resonant properties, but can also be made from other hard materials. This depends on the function. Some small bells such as ornamental bells or cowbells can be made from cast or pressed metal, glass or ceramic, but large bells such as

3995-415: The bell, and come to rest on the downhill side. This latter method is used in English style full circle ringing. Occasionally the clappers have leather pads (called muffles ) strapped around them to quieten the bells when practice ringing to avoid annoying the neighbourhood. Also at funerals, half-muffles are often used to give a full open sound on one round, and a muffled sound on the alternate round for

4080-615: The bell-ringer stands. The ropes (usually all ropes) are not pulled, but rather pressed with hands or legs. Since one end of every rope is fixed, and the ropes are kept in tension, a press or even a punch on a rope makes a clapper move. The Russian Tsar Bell is the largest extant bell in the world. A carillon is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 bells . The bells are cast in bronze , hung in fixed suspension, and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniously together. They are struck with clappers connected to

4165-413: The bells are down) engages a mechanism to allow the bell to rest just past its balance point. The rope is attached to one side of a wheel so that a different amount of rope is wound on and off as it swings to and fro. The bells are controlled by ringers (one to a bell) in a chamber below, who rotate the bell through a full circle and back, and control the speed of oscillation when the bell is mouth upwards at

4250-467: The cognate bergfried ), combining the Proto-Germanic bergen , 'to protect', or bergaz , 'mountain, high place', with frithu- , 'peace; personal security', to create berg-frithu , lit. 'high place of security' or 'that which watches over peace'. The etymology was forgotten with time, which led to a variety of folk etymologies and spellings, with the initial meaning being lost in

4335-503: The dominance of founders such as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry and John Taylor & Co of Loughborough. The tuning of a bell is completely dependent on its shape. When first cast it is approximately correct, but it is then machined on a tuning lathe to remove metal until it is in tune. This is a very complex exercise which took centuries of empirical practice, and latterly modern acoustic science, to understand. If

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4420-596: The first bells appear in 1000 BC. The earliest metal bells, with one found in the Taosi site and four in the Erlitou site, are dated to about 2000 BC. With the emergence of other kinds of bells during the Shang dynasty ( c.  1600  – c.  1050 BC ), they were relegated to subservient functions; at Shang and Zhou sites, they are also found as part of the horse-and-chariot gear and as collar-bells of dogs. By

4505-455: The gate of many Hindu temples and is rung at the moment one enters the temple. The process of casting bells is called bellfounding , and in Europe dates to the 4th or 5th century. The traditional metal for these bells is a bronze of about 23% tin . Known as bell metal , this alloy is also the traditional alloy for the finest Turkish and Chinese cymbals . Other materials sometimes used for large bells include brass and iron . Steel

4590-414: The heaviest carillon weighs over 91 metric tons (100 short tons). Most weigh between 4.5 and 15 metric tons (5.0 and 16.5 short tons). To be considered a carillon, a minimum of 23 bells are needed; otherwise, it is called a chime . Standard-sized instruments have about 50, and the world's largest has 77 bells. The appearance of a carillon depends on the number and weight of the bells and the tower in which it

4675-402: The heavy bells requires a ringer for each bell. Furthermore, the great inertias involved mean that a ringer has only a limited ability to retard or accelerate their bell's cycle. Along with the relatively limited palette of notes available, the upshot is that such rings of bells do not easily lend themselves to ringing melodies . Instead, a system of change ringing evolved, probably early in

4760-460: The highest achievements of Chinese bronze casting technology. However, the remarkable secret of their design and the method of casting—known only to the Chinese in antiquity—was lost in later generations and was not fully rediscovered and understood until the 20th century. In 1978 a complete ceremonial set of 65 Zhong bells was found in a near-perfect state of preservation during the excavation of

4845-474: The history, methods, and traditions of bellringing as an art. It is common to collect together a set of tuned bells and treat the whole as one musical instrument . Such collections—such as a Flemish carillon , a Russian zvon , or an English " ring of bells " used for change ringing —have their own practices and challenges; and campanology is likewise the study of perfecting such instruments and composing and performing music for them. In this sense, however,

4930-424: The home, as an ornament and emblem, and bells were placed around the necks of cattle and sheep so they could be found if they strayed. As late as the 10th century AD, European bells were no higher than 2 feet in height. In the western world , the common form of bell is a church bell or town bell, which is hung within a tower or bell cote. Such bells are either fixed in a static position ("hung dead") or mounted on

5015-539: The hours and quarters. Historically, bells have been associated with religious rites, and are still used to call communities together for religious services. Later, bells were made to commemorate important events or people and have been associated with the concepts of peace and freedom. The study of bells is called campanology . Bell is a word common to the Low German dialects, cognate with Middle Low German belle and Dutch bel but not appearing among

5100-478: The keys of a pedal keyboard with the feet. The keys mechanically activate levers and wires that connect to metal clappers that strike the inside of the bells, allowing the performer to vary the intensity of the note according to the force applied to the key. In the Eastern world , the traditional forms of bells are temple and palace bells, small ones being rung by a sharp rap with a stick, and very large ones rung by

5185-464: The measure used by Big Ben . Some bells are used as musical instruments , such as carillons , (clock) chimes , agogô , or ensembles of bell-players, called bell choirs , using hand-held bells of varying tones. A "ring of bells" is a set of four to twelve or more bells used in change ringing , a particular method of ringing bells in patterns. A peal in changing ringing may have bells playing for several hours, playing 5,000 or more patterns without

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5270-413: The method in which a bell is struck. Asian large bells are often bowl shaped but lack the lip and are often not free-swinging. Also note the special shape of Bianzhong bells, allowing two tones. The scaling or size of most bells to each other may be approximated by the equation for circular cylinders: f=Ch/D where h is thickness, D is diameter, and C is a constant determined by the material and

5355-408: The most pleasant tone. However, the tone of a bell is mostly due to its shape. A bell is regarded as having a good tone when it is "in tune with itself". In western bell founding, this is known as "harmonic tuning" of a bell, which results in the bell's strongest harmonics being in harmony with each other and the strike note. This produces the brightest and purest sound, which is the attractive sound of

5440-457: The mould is made within a perforated cast-iron case, larger than the finished bell, containing the loam mixture which is shaped, dried and smoothed in the same way as the core. The case is inverted (mouth down), lowered over the core and clamped to the base plate. The clamped mould is supported, usually by being buried in a casting pit to bear the weight of metal and to allow even cooling. Historically, before rail or road transport of large bells

5525-409: The named note. This quest by various founders over centuries of bell founding has resulted in the development of an optimum profile for casting each size of a bell to give true harmonic tuning. Although bells are cast to accurate patterns, variations in casting mean that a final tuning is necessary as the shape of the bell is critical in producing the desired strike note and associated harmonics. Tuning

5610-464: The neck of the leader goat, which the sheep herd followed. This led to the association in folk memory between the distinctive sound of konguro'o and the nomadic way of life. To make this instrument, Kyrgyz foremen used copper, bronze, iron and brass. They also decorated it with artistic carving and covered it with silver. Sizes of the instruments might vary within certain limits, what depended on its function. Every bell had its own timbre. A variant on

5695-679: The other Germanic languages except the Icelandic bjalla which was a loanword from Old English . It is popularly but not certainly related to the former sense of to bell ( Old English : bellan , 'to roar, to make a loud noise') which gave rise to bellow . The earliest archaeological evidence of bells dates from the 3rd millennium BC, and is traced to the Yangshao culture of Neolithic China . Clapper-bells made of pottery have been found in several archaeological sites. The pottery bells later developed into metal bells. In West Asia,

5780-468: The practical change of interval between successive strikes is limited. This places limitations on the rules for generating easily-rung changes; each bell must strike once in each change, but its position of striking in successive changes can only change by one place. Change ringing is practised worldwide, but it is by far most common on church bells in English churches, where it first developed. In method or scientific ringing each ringer has memorized

5865-453: The process of folk etymology. In Medieval Latin , the variants bertefredum , berfredum , and belfredum are known. Today's Dutch belfort combines the term bell with the term stronghold . It was a watchtower that a city was permitted to build in its defence, while the Dutch term klokkenstoel ('bell-chair') refers only to the construction of the hanging system, or the way

5950-489: The process, and sometime between the late 13th and the mid-15th century the new sense of "bell tower" was adopted in Anglo-Latin and Middle English . This new and current meaning came as a result of the common association with bell . Merriam-Webster explains the transformation by the fact that the initial word was later used for different types of towers and protective buildings, many containing bells. People associated

6035-473: The profile. On the theory that pieces in major keys may better be accommodated, after many unsatisfactory attempts, in the 1980s, using computer modeling for assistance in design by scientists at the Technical University in Eindhoven, bells with a major-third profile were created by the Royal Eijsbouts bell foundry in the Netherlands, being described as resembling old Coke bottles in that they have

6120-457: The ropes are taut, and pulling one of the ropes towards the player will strike the hammer against the bell. To enable normal full circle ringing on the same bells, the ropes are slackened to allow the hammers to drop away from the moving bells. The system was devised in 1821 by Reverend Henry Thomas Ellacombe of Gloucestershire, who first had such a system installed in Bitton in 1822. He created

6205-410: The seventeenth century, which centres on mathematical permutations . The ringers begin with rounds , which is simply ringing down the scale in numerical order. (On six bells this would be 123456 .) The ringing then proceeds in a series of rows or changes , each of which is some permutation of rounds (for example 214365 ) where no bell changes by more than one position from the preceding row (this

6290-524: The sound to escape. The openings may be left uncovered but are commonly filled with louvers to prevent rain and snow from entering and damaging the bells. There may be a separate room below the bell chamber to house the ringers. The word belfry comes from the Old North French berfroi or berfrei , meaning 'movable wooden siege tower'. The Old French word itself is derived from Middle High German bercfrit , 'protecting shelter' (cf.

6375-486: The speeds of their individual bells accurately to combine in ringing different mathematical permutations, known as "changes". Speed control of a tower bell is exerted by the ringer only when each bell is mouth upwards and moving slowly near the balance point; this constraint and the intricate rope manipulation involved normally requires that each bell have its own ringer. The considerable weights of full-circle tower bells also means they cannot be easily stopped or started and

6460-410: The strike note, the nominal or the strike note are tuned; the effect is usually the same because the nominal is one of the main partials that determines the tone of the strike note. The thickness of a church bell at its thickest part, called the "sound bow", is usually one thirteenth its diameter. If the bell is mounted as cast, it is called a "maiden bell". The traditional harmonically tuned bell has

6545-506: The system to make conventional bell-ringers redundant, so churches did not have to tolerate the behaviour of what he thought were unruly bell-ringers. However, in reality, it required very rare expertise for one person to ring changes. The sound of a chime was a poor substitute for the rich sound of swinging bells, and the apparatus fell out of fashion. Consequently, the Ellacombe apparatus has been disconnected or removed from many towers in

6630-418: The time between successive strikes of the clapper. Ordinarily a bell will swing through a small arc only at a set speed governed by its size and shape in the nature of a simple pendulum, but by swinging through a larger arc approaching a full circle, control of the strike interval can be exercised by the ringer. This culminated in the technique of full circle ringing, which enabled ringers to independently change

6715-418: The time, but after their death, their guarded trade secrets were lost, and not until the 19th century were bells of comparable tuning quality cast. It was only in modern times that repeatable harmonic tuning using a known scientific basis was achieved. The main partials (or harmonics) of a well-tuned bell are: Further, less-audible, harmonics include the major third and a perfect fifth in the second octave above

6800-500: The top of bells in China was usually decorated with a small dragon, known as pulao ; the figure of the dragon served as a hook for hanging the bell. Konguro'o is a small bell which, like the Djalaajyn , was first used for utilitarian purposes and only later for artistic ones. Konguro'o rang when moving to new places. They were fastened to the horse harnesses and created a very specific "smart" sound background. Konguro'o also hung on

6885-604: The word campanology is most often used in reference to relatively large bells, often hung in a tower. It is not usually applied to assemblages of smaller bells, such as a glockenspiel , a collection of tubular bells , or an Indonesian gamelan . Campanology is a hybrid word . The first half is derived from the Late Latin campana , meaning 'bell'; the second half is derived from the Ancient Greek -λογία ( -logia ) meaning 'the study of'. A campanologist

6970-464: Was especially important in the time when clocks were too expensive for widespread ownership. In the case of clock towers and grandfather clocks, a particular sequence of tones may be played to distinguish between the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, or other intervals. One common pattern is called " Westminster Quarters ," a sixteen-note pattern named after the Palace of Westminster which popularized it as

7055-407: Was possible, a "bell pit" was often dug in the grounds of the building where the bell was to be installed. Molten bell metal is poured into the mould through a box lined with foundry sand . The founder would bring his casting tools to the site, and a furnace would be built next to the pit. Large bells are generally around 80% copper and 20% tin ( bell metal ), which has been found empirically to give

7140-468: Was the tradition to ring a dead bell , a form of handbell, at the death of an individual and at the funeral. Numerous organizations promote the ringing, study, music, collection, preservation and restoration of bells, including: Campanology Campanology ( / k æ m p ə ˈ n ɒ l ə d ʒ i / ) is the scientific and musical study of bells . It encompasses the technology of bells—how they are founded , tuned and rung—as well as

7225-404: Was tried during the busy church-building period of mid-19th-century England, because it was more economical than bronze, but was found not to be durable and manufacture ceased in the 1870s. Small bells were originally made with the lost wax process but large bells are cast mouth downwards by filling the air space in a two-part mould with molten metal. Such a mould has an outer section clamped to

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