I will begin by describing real cast bronze bells and their mechanical controls. Bells can be categorized in many ways, but for the sake of brevity, we must limit this article to the most common types. The number of bells is the main determining factor. You may have heard of a “six bell peal”, or a “chime” of bells, or a “carillon”, and wondered what distinguishing characteristics apply to a particular type. In the photo at left, a new 60-watt driver is resting on the girder at the base of the Sunsphere at a height of 176 feet. You will encounter a variety of bell types in this article. Some say it’s only a bell if it has the classic “bell” shape, while others limit it’s qualification to certain metals or alloys. So, here am I, servicing carillons and chimes, and even an occasional Tower clock!Ī bell can be anything that resonates when struck.

The rest were auctioned, including that old clock. After his death, many of his old time-locks and safes were given to the Smithsonian Institute. He asked me to someday help him figure out how to do it. He told me he wanted to figure out how to make it play the Westminster, but it had no bells. I would get the mechanism turning by winding the big counterweights, and watching all the parts turn and spin – fascinated by it all. Grandpa built a shed to protect the huge clockworks. My mother and sister and I lived with our grandparents after our alcoholic father left us. The dial face was twelve feet in diameter! He propped it against one of his workshops ( he was a safe and vault technician, and always tinkering – James R.

Back in the sixties, when I was a teenager, my grandfather bought an old courthouse clock, probably at one of the many auctions he attended. Included to help create an awareness of the need. This article summarizes the most common designs of bells, chimes, and carillons. James Baysinger replacing a speaker driver on the Maas-Rowe 246 bell analog carillon in the Sunsphere in 1989 – altitude in photo is 176 feet!

Maas tower