[Bell Historians] Warners

[David Cawley]

Weren't the Warner-restored Beckwith twelve at York rehung on the old C&G 
Mears frame? The 'self-adjusting oil ring bearings' which were favoured for 
the job were no doubt a mistake. I have spoken to people who rang on the old 
ring at Buckfast and have photographs of them in the tower and before being 
hung in the Abbey, and the Stokes frame was a massive affair. Having spoken 
to a number of people who rang on them, the Warner twelve neither sounded 
bad nor went badly - the tricky thing, of course, was ringing them from the 
narrow stone gallery.

It is of course not unusual to have a "Warner-bashing session". The habit 
was started by the late E. B. Denison in 1856 when he managed to crack a 
certain 15-ton bell of theirs with an overweight hammer (as he did to its 
Mears successor). Whatever may be said on this site there exist  in wood, 
iron and steel excellent examples of  craftsmanship; while their use of the 
dread word "PATENT" refers to the most significant development in the art of 
bellfounding prior to the True-Harmonic revolution, namely their 
introduction of the iron cope or moulding case and bedplate, in universal 
use after the patent rights lapsed by almost all British bellfounders 
(Thomas Bond was, I believe, the only exception).

If I was given a choice, say in 1880, of chosing between any of the 'big 
five' I would most certainly at that time have preferred Warners over 
Taylors, Mears, Llewellins or Gilletts. But then not everything that was 
produced by the last named four at the time was bad either.


DLC

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "David Bryant" <davidbryant at 9Y5oh5gdllXIsTSmSz9GSecZD-n7zizxQK7x4Vx12fcT0z3FpeFIb1XLlmvjC2QioIz33i5qk-snoLzj_j4gruMR-w.yahoo.invalid>
To: <bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 23, 2006 8:36 AM
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] Groton,use of list.


>  and did those wonderful 'gimbal' bearings at York Minster ever work?

Apparently they made the bells go like the sides of houses. I think they
might have been used on the original 12 at Buckfast as well.

David




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