[Bell Historians] Re: Clapper failure information request

[David Bryant]

> I don't know whether this could be considered
> off-topic but could anybody provide information about
> the design of clapper turners?

The most usual design seems to be to have a couple of rails which pass above 
and either side of the clapper flight when the bell is up. A block mounted 
on the rails then has a piece protruding from the bottom which engages 
against the clapper flight. A pulley system in the ringing chamber allows 
the block to be pulled across the pit, thereby pushing the clapper across 
the bell. There then obviously needs to be a way of making sure that the 
block returns to its original position so that the clapper doesn't hit it 
when the bell is rung - a counterweight of some sort should serve this 
purpose.

Obviously, the above system relies on the bells being hung in an H frame. If 
they were in a lowside frame some sort of bridge over the pit would 
presumably be necessary. All of the clapper turners which I've seen have 
been on H frames.

I'm ringing at Leeds tomorrow afternoon, but I think the bells will be up so 
I won't be able to inspect the clapper turner more closely - it's very tight 
for space in the bell chamber. Anyway, we have several members of the Leeds 
band on this list so perhaps they could provide further details?

David