[Bell Historians] Big bells was Riverside bass bell

[Carl S Zimmerman]

The Riverside bass bell remains the biggest tuned bell in the world. I'll leave it to others to debate whether it is "decent" and "accurately tuned" in comparison with other very large tuned bells.  But personally I think it makes a glorious sound, whether swinging (as part of the five-bell peal) or not (as part of the carillon).

Jill Johnston's reference to this bell's loss of position in the year 2000 was based on the casting of the World Peace Bell (Newport, Kentucky, USA), which was the biggest swinging bell in the world from that year until it was superseded by the Gotenba bell in 2006.  Both of those bells are untuned.

With respect to the YouTube video of the World Peace Bell, I can confirm that the recorded sound bears little resemblance to the actual sound of this bell.  Because it is counterbalanced, the clapper strikes the bell gently enough that the sound level is tolerable from the adjacent viewing platform.  In fact, once the motors are turned off and the bell stops striking, there is a short period of time when you can safely reach over the railing, push the clapper with your hands, and make it strike again on the opposite side.  Awesome!


--- On Fri, 10/10/08, Bickerton, Roderic (SELEX GALILEO, UK) <Roderic.Bickerton at jAZcEhe8zFhRfNM4CJayycCCIClyrd1qYKOc2-SuZzHbrJ6afvDxs8UBK_gXFPJnsytiHRtEpX7EZyfY.yahoo.invalid> wrote:








 
 






O/k so where is the biggest decent, accurately tuned bell? 

  





           
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