[Bell Historians] Steel bell protective coatings

[Robert Lewis]

I relayed the advice about WAXOYL and received the following information in 
return, which may be of some interest.

RAL


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Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 11:44:47 -0800
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Had your e-mail forwarded from our state office.  Thanks for the 
advice.  We got the following response on our research which is what led to 
the questions:


"Your bell is indeed made of cast iron (or cast steel actually), and was 
produced by the Cincinnati Bell Company, Cincinnati, Ohio. It is

impossible to date it exactly, but the timespan which you indicate does fit 
with what little is known about that company. ...............

cast steel bells were a commodity product, mass produced and distributed 
through a wide variety of outlets.

The "30" in the inscription refers to the size of the bell - it must be 
approximately 30 inches in diameter (measured across the mouth).

I expect that the "30" and the "CIN BELL CO" parts of the inscription are 
on opposite sides of the center of the yoke from which the bell

is suspended. There might also be a "30" on top of the bell itself. All 
would be in raised lettering, integral to the original castings."



We have had another response since that and he told us that if we can get 
him the diameter of the bell he has a table that will give us the weight & 
tone.  Haven't gotten that info as of yet.  We don't have records of the 
casting however we can roughtly date it because in 1892 he first one-room 
school house was erected to replace the orginal log schoolhouse and there 
is a photo with a bell.  The Cincinnati Bell Company cast bells from 1814 
to 1889.  We do not know if it was purchased directly from them or 
secondhand.  There were some subsequent schoolhouses with bells that 
replaced this structure but they probably reused the same bell as Redmond 
at the time was a very small community which could not have afforded that 
kind of "luxury",

Interestingly, our community has two bells, the other belonging to the 
school district.  A prominent family, the Clises, donated it to a church, 
it was then donated to the City which used it as the fire bell, and when 
that use was no longer neccessary it went to the local highschool.  That 
bell was cast in West Troy, New York by the  Meneely Bell Company and is 
inscribed with the date 1912. This is a 38 inch diameter bell, weighs 1,100 
lbs, and sound a A-flat when rung.

Not bad for a little community that incorporated in 1912 with all of 300 
people!!"







           
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