[Bell Historians] Bell diameters

[David Cawley]

All the result of haste I am afraid - as I have already communicated off list to Bill, I also gave the Westminster 3rd quarter bell thickness incorrectly - it should be 4 7/16"; it is the 4th quarter which is 6 1/16" thick.

As far as Westminster 2nd quarter is concerned I clearly hit the wrong key. The bell is 4' 0 1/16" (not 3' 0 1/16") in diameter. This is a more precise measurement than the 4' recorded in 2002.

As far as Great Bede is concerned GAD is correct. Also its present weight is 106-3-4.  I was quoting a paper put on this list on 3/8/2003 by a bellhanger. I now quote from a letter to me written from Taylors by Alan Berry some twenty years ago, which I had misplaced:

In 1900 we received a bell from Beverley 5' 0" diameter, approximately c sharp, weight 35-cwts. 1-qr. 4-lbs. We cast a 6' 10" diameter bell, finished weight 5 tons, 13-cwts. 0-qrs. 21-lbs. This is one of our superb bells. It was left in tune with itself after slight tuning and is approximately A-flat. In December 1901 (possibly after the acquisition of our larger tuning machine) the bell was re-tuned to be exactly in tune with itself and then went to Downside Abbey. Its new weight was 5-tons 6-cwts. 3-qrs. 4-lbs., note G (originally Downside were going to have a 4' 8" bell about 33-cwt. but this was never cast).  

Apologies for errors in typing / sourcing which I modestly hope that list members would regard as unusual in my contributions, despite the toll of advancing years

DLC




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Bill Hibbert 
  To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Tuesday, January 29, 2008 8:26 PM
  Subject: [Bell Historians] Bell diameters


  Thanks to all for their help with this, on and off list. Steve Ivin 
  points out that we have already discussed the sizes of the Westminster 
  quarters, on April 22 2002 - David Cawley gave the sizes then. I hope 
  David and George will forgive me for pointing out some discrepancies in 
  the data supplied, as follows:

  Great Bede: DLC 6' 5 1/2", GAD 6' 10 1/2"
  Westminster Q2: DLC 2002 4' 0", DLC 2008 3' 8 1/16".

  Perhaps these bells are not round! :-)

  Also, regarding Alan's weight for the Wanamaker bell, 310-1-23 must be 
  the correct reading as 28lbs = 1qtr. I have seen the figure of 310-1-28 
  in more than one place, it is a common mis-reading. For clarity, I 
  assume this is the weight of the 1923 bell which no longer exists.

  Bill H



              
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