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North American Tower Chimes
Most North American Tower Chimes are a set of 8 or more stationary bells tuned to the intervals of a major scale, mostly 8-12 bells or tubes.
A few go from 13-22.
More would make them a Carillon.
Their purpose is to play tunes.
There are all shapes of bells, but the ones we talk about are of the European profile.
The tubulars are vertical hollow tubular pipes.
More details on them in the Tubular section.
Chimes were founded (cast in America by foundries) from 1853-1941, then after WWII to the present.
It seems as if chimes (as we know them) are an American phenomenon.
They are being copied in Europe.
They were all manually played into the 1920's until the advent of electricity and solenoids.
The Bell Chimes are usually all hung stationery, while the largest(bourdon) may also be a swinger.
Manually, they are usually played thru a wooden clavier with baton handles or Ellacombe style (ropes pulled toward the player),
Electrically, via keyboard, organ, computer or pre-programmed device.
The manual and electrified chime sections give more detail of each.
Bronze Bells - in the European profile.
The big founders of Chimes were from Troy, Boston, Baltimore and Ohio.
Andrew Meneely of West Troy 170, Eber Jones of Troy 23, Chester Meneely of Troy 160, Blake of Boston 9, McShane of Baltimore 140, VanDuzen of Cincinnati 16, Stuckstede of St. Louis 6,
and one or two by others.
When it comes to the pitch of the bells, you have to wonder if they didn't talk to each other.
The low (bourdon) bell determined the scale.
God help the chimer who had to read his music in C#.
Yes, there was one.
The first 8 bells were an 8 note scale, then 9 thru 12 were almost always 7b, 9, 4#, 11.
13-16 are F, G, F#, C#, ... 17-20 are A, B+C, Eb, ... 21-22 are Bb high, G# low.
The reasoning was so that the most tunes could be played with the least number of bells.
It seems to be true.
By the way, most Irish tunes can be played on a 9 or 10 bell chime.
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Tubular Chimes - not the majority.
The Tubular Chimes are usually hung from a stationery wooden rack, an equal number in two parallel rows.
Manually, they are typically played Ellacombe style or electrically by keyboard, organ, computer or pre-programmed device.
Deagan, Durfee and US Tubular were the big manufacturers.
They don't appear to be made any more.
Except for Deagans, they seem to have been made as an offshoot to clockmakers tubular bells.
The Durfee tubulars were usually keyed in Ab and had 15 bells played Ellacombe style (rope pulled towards player).
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Chime key + Music Notation + Tuning - and the different systems used.
Most chimes are not keyed in 'C'.
The real key is the tenor bell (the largest bell).
A 'C' tenor bell would weigh around 5,000 lbs.
So the foundry usually labeled manual chimes in the tenor bell key.
Electrified chimes are liable to be 'C' or the true key on the keyboard.
Some are labeled by numbers (1-10, 11, 12 etc.) or letters pasted on the keyboard.
When it comes to the pitch of the bells, you have to wonder if they didn't talk to each other.
The low (bourdon) bell determined the scale.
God help the chimer who had to read his music in C#.
Yes, there was one.
The first 8 bells were an 8 note scale, then 9 thru 12 were almost always 7b, 9, 4#, 11.
13-16 are F, G, F#, C#, ... 17-20 are A, B+C, Eb, ... 21-22 are Bb high, G# low.
Cornell University has 22 bells.
The reasoning was so that the most tunes could be played with the least number of bells.
It seems to be true.
By the way, most Irish tunes can be played on a 9 or 10 bell chime.
Don't underestimate the resourcefulness of human beings.
You don't have to be a virtuoso to play them.
Who ever would think that there were people without musical training who wanted to play them?
Solutions were to relabel them by numbers, 1-8,9,10,11,12 or top down or 1,2,3,4,4#,5,6,7b,7,8, etc, no set system.
The numbering system allowed non-musicians to use 3X5 cards and pages, but get the job done.
Without a music rack to put the 3x5 cards, one chimer in Ontario (see picture), uses a mouse trap.
Still haven't figured out the color codes on another chime in Nova Scotia (see picture).
Those with limited training often chose to label them in "C".
In a pinch, I did the same thing.
Transposed my Christmas music into "C" for a nearby electrified chime with a keyboard in "C".
Went up to the belfry on Christmas Eve and suddenly realized I had left my music at his place.
However, I had made two copies of his, and kept one.
Labeled and rubber banded 3x5 cards around the levers and was saved.
In today's day of computers, I use "Finale" to enter in one key and print it back out in another that I can use.
Meneely of Troy often provided a black hard cover printed book of music with their chime.
It was placed behind a door on the lower right side of the chimestand.
If electrified, it was placed in the drawer below the keyboard.
Ed Kehn said the scribe was paid 4 cents a hymn for doing it.
If you go to other chimes, take 3x5 cards or something to label and wrap around the new chime handles if necessary.
If you see a bell with raised lettering, it has not been tuned. West Troy Meneely tuned some sets in the 1900's.
They would have the inscriptions dotted in.
I have seen occasional lathe marks in (raise the note) and outside a bell.
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Manual Chimes - are played from a clavier, each bell generally having its own lever.
Some manual sets also have foot pedals on the lowest four bells of the clavier for playing chords.
When the bourdon also swings, there might be a disconnect, so that the chime hammer wouldn't bend when the bourdon swings.
The chime hammer on these lifts up from the floor into the bell, sometimes making it harder to ring than the others.
Most claviers had the levers placed evenly in a horizontal row, unlike a piano (the easiest to play) with a 3-10" stroke.
A few were upper/lower, with the sharps and flats on the upper row (not easy to play).
The only Stuckstede chime I have seen had the levers placed on a curve; the lowest note played with the longest stroke, going to shorter strokes as the note got higher.
Actually saw a lonesome fellow trying to fix his currently unused Meneely chime this way.
Understandable, but not practical.
The Stuckstede levers were placed 4+4+4+4, extra space between each 4.
Their bells also seemed thinner, although melodious.
Whitechapel made a few ring/chime combinations of 11 bells. Ten for the ring and the 11th was a 4# for chiming.
A few McShane 15 bell sets had extremely long downward thrusts.
The lever has a connection to a rod, flexible cable or the like which goes all the way to the clapper of the bell.
The handle is usually pressed with appropriate vigor to play the notes.
Often, there is a spring or counterweight arrangement to quickly release the clapper from the bell to allow
quicker repeated notes.
The cable passes thru one of more floors from the clavier into the bell tower thru a raised area called an umbrella.
There are often soldered 3-6" pipes here to keep the rain out of the lower levels.
It continues to a higher level to a transmission which redirects the cables over pulley wheels to the
correct bells.
Often, just below the pulley, the cable is attached to a chain, which goes over the pulley to the clapper.
There is usually extra chain so that adjustments can be made to get the right distance needed to ring and release the clapper quickly.
When fully depressed, there should be about an inch space between the clapper and the bell.
This means that you have actually thrown the clapper into the bell when ringing.
Chimes often took on the mantra of something sacred that only one person could be entrusted to play.
Chimes were often played from a place inaccessible to the general public, thereby taking on this aura.
Some chimers played alone for decades, with no interest in musically socializing.
Their chime became just that. "Their chime".
I tried to overcome that at St. Patrick's and couldn't.
Most chimes were at churches.
The thought of playing anything other than hymns and "America" was blasphemous
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Electrified Chimes - are played from a keyboard or automatic device.
Short stand-alone keyboards are often supplied by the founder next to the organ or sometimes they
play hooked into the organ keyboard.
This sometimes causes an unintended conflict with the organist, whose main job is to play the organ and the chiming is justifiably secondary.
It is often impossible for the organist or keyboarder to hear the bells playing (or not playing).
An electrical impulse activates a relay, a separate power source goes thru the relay and pulls or pushes an electrical solenoid to hit the bell.
Some solenoids are mounted at the bell and push a hammer directly into the bell.
Others are located anywhere from the first level to the tower level and pull a cable over a transmission, like manual chimes.
I do not advocate in-house repairs to anything electrical.
But if you insist - do not attempt repairs if you are not an electrician and ALL power
sources are noted.
There may be additional power sources for automatic devices, such as Westminster chimes, hour strike, angelus, etc., in ANY tower.
The tradeoffs with manual chimes, which are easily repaired by a maintenance person, is playing pump handles vs. a keyboard.
When the electrical system breaks down it is often not repaired (because this is beyond the expertise of in-house help and will cost money) and then the whole chime becomes abandoned.
You have probably gotten a lot of good of the electrification.
If you have set up a repair fund with perhaps $100 a year, then repairing them would not be so cost prohibitive.
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