A BIG WHEEL
As well as designing, manufacturing and installing new bells, frames and fittings,
Whitechapel Bell Foundry is also often called upon to refurbish and repair existing
installations. A recent example was the 4'-2 ½" (1285) diameter
slow-swinger at Dowanhill Church (The Cottier Theatre)
on Glasgow's Hyndland Road. Cast by Wilsons of Glasgow in 1866, the bell had the usual
deficiencies common to those of its vintage, as well as those which can come with age.
The former included the original tuning, the bell having been cast before harmonic tuning
was fully understood and adopted by most bellfounders (which occurred early in the 20th
century), and the very common cast-in type of clapper staple. These staples, being of
iron, are often the cause of old bells becoming cracked due to their rusting and
subsequent expansion. Whenever we undertake work on such bells, we usually cut away the
staple, drill a stress-relieving centre hole through the crown of the bell to take a new,
independent staple which is mechanically insulated from the bell, and also remove as much
iron from the crown as possible. The other problems that arise with age, as with this bell,
can be an external layer of pigeon guano where sound opening aren't meshed over to prevent
access by birds, and a layer of corrosion on the inside due to exposure to the elements. In
consequence of these layers the bell sounded tonally dead, and we were also unable to inspect
for cracks until had sand-blasted the inside and used a high-pressure water jet to remove the
guano.
As well as refurbishing the headstock and supplying new gudgeons, bearings, bedplates, bolts
and pulley, we also had to make a replacement wheel. The remains of the original were delivered
to the foundry where our Head Carpenter, Terry Britton (pictured), laid them out and took all
necessary measurements. Made from Oak, all the wooden wheels supplied by Whitechapel are
fabricated on the premises in our Carpenters Shop. At 8'-6" (2590 mm) diameter, the wheel was
outside our standard range and, indeed, the biggest made at the Foundry since World War II.
So far.
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