THE NEW BELL POE ST. PAUL’S.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2917, 1 August 1882, Page 3

THE NEW BELL POE ST. PAUL’S.

In the work of fixing this monster bell in its last home, everything has been prepared under the direction of Mr Penrose, the architect to the Dean and Chapter, with such exactness, that while not an inch of atone-work has been unnecessarily out and removed, there is still just room enough for the bell to be hauled through the door and np the incline from the yard to the floor of the tower. The steps and the stones at the lower part of the doorway have been removed, an outline in section of the bell out in wood having been used to make sure that the bell would pass without even getting a scratch. The weight of the head-stock alone is nearly 3 tons, the clapper over 4 cwt., the crown staple to which the clapper is attached about as much more, and the clapper bolt, by which the two sections of the clapper are fastened through the head-stock, not far from another 2 cwt. To these must be added the weight of the iron straps and bolts by which the “ canons” of the bells are fastened in the head-stock, and a total weight of nearly 4 tons is made up, in addition to the 16 tons 14cwt 2qrs 191 b, which Great Paul brings to scale. Many people have asked how this great mass of over 28 tons is to be set in motion. The bell is to have no connection with the clock, and it is not to be struck by a hammer, hut is to be swung and nsed for a service bell, or on rarer occasions, and it may be hoped at very long intervals of time, to be tolled. An ingenious modification of the leverarm, by which smaller bells are rung, has been devised, by which it will be possible for two men, and for three or four men with ease, to “ chime ” the bell—that is, to swing it sufficiently to canse the clapper to strike one side of the sound-bow. A wooden bar about 10ft long, fixed at right angles to the top of the headstock at one end, will have the rope attached, by which the ringers will pull. At the other end of the head-stock, and on the same side of the hell as the ringers stand, will be another long lever bar, having a heavy weight attached by a rope, the rope, however, being so long that the weight rests on the ground until the motion of the bell, exaggerated by the length of the arm, lifts the weight, when a jerk is given, and the rate at which the bell and clapper are moving being suddenly altered, the stroke is obtained. When the swinging motion has once Been got up, eight or ten strokes a minute may be got.