[Bell Historians] Chime clapper play

[David Bryant]

From: "Carl S Zimmerman" <csz_stl at s...>

> However, if the excess clapper play is due to uneven wear of the
> clapper bearing, such that the clapper no longer has a "preferred"
> direction of travel, then immediate rebushing is indicated.
>
> If the clapper and transmission are out of alignment, but the
> looseness in the bearing is uniform, then turning the bell and/or
> shifting the transmission crank along the roller bar to achieve
> proper alignment should give satisfactory results. If so, then
> rebushing can be postponed.

Out transmission has quadrants, not roller bars, and the problem is that the
baton travel for one of the bells (the one with an exceptionally loose
clapper) is often (but not always) reduced dramatically, and the reason
seems to be that the clapper is still well off-centre, having swing there at
the previous stroke, and is thus nearer to the bell and hits it too soon. A
number of the other clappers are loose, although not so much as this one.
Anyway, I've emailed Andrew Higson at Taylor's asking for his advice, but it
does seem likely that we will need to rebush most of the clappers.

David