treble bells

[bellmaster]

Four examples of trebles from Taylor 12's

1) Leighton Buzzard

Treble 27", hang 23", wheel 60"
2nd 28.5", hang 23.5", wheel 61"
3rd 29.5", hang 24", wheel 62"
4th 31", hang 24.5", wheel 63"

2) Evesham

Treble 27", hang 22", wheel 56"
2nd 28.5", hang 23", wheel 58"
3rd 29.5", hang 23.5", wheel 59"
4th 31", hang 24", wheel 60"

3) Shrewsbury

Treble 25.5", hang 23.5", wheel 58"
2nd 27", hang 23.5", wheel 58"
3rd 28", hang 24", wheel 59"
4th 29.5", hang 24", wheel 59"

4) Pierhead

Treble 27", hang 23", wheel 56"
2nd 28", hang 23.5", wheel 57"
3rd 29", hang 24", wheel 58"
4th 30.5", hang 24.5", wheel 59"

Our theoretical bellangs and wheel diameter are d/2 + 8.5" and b/h*2 + 12".

Shrewsbury, as were other jobs of the era were hung on a "gut feeling" principle from what I can make out. It was not uncommon for treble bells to have the same hangs and wheel diameters. The shape of the bells was altered with an external plate which has flattened out the soundbow and added 1.5" to the internal and external height, which means you can get a longer clapper in which I think means it strikes slower. Don't know why they decided to flatten the soundbow out. This was also done at Newcastle, but they had flange tops too. Pierhead trebles are what we call "B" crooks, which is essentially the standard shape, sliced off at the inscrition band, a cylinder 1/12th the diameter added and then put back together.It too allows a longer clapper to be put in. Evesham and L.B. are standard shapes.

Richard: Did Taylor's really have a variable bell shape for the convenience of hanging in the 1920s? ...surely not! 

Yes we did, Shrewsbury was one - only got used there and Newcastle, York and Worcester are other examples. These one offs were the forerunners of the B crook. The problem with them is that it createds an abrupt change of height rather than a graded one. If doing similar I might want to do a graded increase in relative heights.

Andrew





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