[Bell Historians] Taylor Clappers

[David Bryant]

> Correct! A couple of years back the fifth clapper cracked near to
> one of the bolt holes. Of course it had to be during a peal attempt
> by an outside-Guild band and the bell stopped ringing. We have had
> only a handful of request of the 16 years I've rung at Allesley! It
> was nickel welded by "a friend", then rebushed at the foundry.
> Taylors then had a newish bloke doing bushes and he put an "oilite"
> bush in it. Do these last much longer?

Yes, Oilite (which is an oil-impregnated bronze) lasts much longer. This
week I'm removing a couple of clappers of 1980 from the trebles of a six
which I look after to get them rebushed (with oilite). The nylon bushes are
so knackered that the treble's clapper can slide about five inches on the
soundbow.

> Correct! Both the holes have gone oval and this allowed movement
> side-to-side and up-and-down, and therefore the bush to wear quickly,
> not helped by the fact that the smooth section before the end thread
> of the bolt was not quite long enough. Also not helped by the fact
> that I had been complaining about a squeeking noise from the clapper
> for at least 2 years before the steeplekeepers went and had a look!

Sounds like your best course of action would be to replace the clapper.

David