56 



On Church Bells. 



pivot fixed to a beam above, and the lower end driven firmly into 

 the ground. The inner mould or core is built up of brickwork 

 round this pivot, having a hollow space in the centre for a fire ; 

 and the face of the brickwork is then covered with a composition 

 of clay and other materials, and moulded by one of the legs of the 

 crook into the shape of the inside of the bell. It is then baked 

 by means of a fire in the hollow, and when hard is greased and 

 coated with another composition which is made to take the exact 

 shape of the outside of the bell, by a few revolutions of the other 

 leg of the crook. This is also hardened by the fire, and upon it 

 are placed the inscriptions and ornaments in relief. 1 Over this, 

 when it has been washed with a composition of grease and tan, the 

 outer mould or cope is formed; and finally, the crown or head of 

 the bell, for the formation of the canons, is then fitted to the top 

 of it. The whole having been burnt, the cope is removed, and the 

 inner composition between it and the core, representing the bell, is 

 destroyed ; so that when the cope is again put over the core, there 

 is a space between the two of the shape and thickness of the bell, 

 and into this space the metal is allowed to run. 



When a bell is to be cast, the core is placed in a pit close to the 

 furnace, the cope and crown are carefully fixed over the core, and 

 the whole is rammed round tightly with dry sand, leaving nothing 

 exposed but the holes in the cap or crown, one for an air hole, and 

 the other for the fused metal to run into. As soon as the metal is 

 cool, the bell is dug out, and, if one of a peal, carried into the 

 finishing department for the purpose of being tuned. Formerly 

 this was done by chipping the inside of the bell, or by cutting away 

 the edge of the lip. But Mr. Rudhall, of Gloucester, invented a 

 simple machine for accomplishing this object. It is nothing more 

 than a vertical lathe, driven by steam power. The bell to be tuned 

 is fixed very firmly in an inverted position, and a powerful cutter, 

 working on a pivot placed within it diminishes its thickness, if too 



1 Mistakes in spelling frequently occur in bell epigraphs, owing to careless- 

 ness (sometimes to ignorance) in making the impressions of the letters on the 

 moulds. Letters, in some instances, are inverted, and in others put in their 

 wrong places. 



