Chimola - an alternative to a chime
or mini tower chime
These are hemispheric bells that look like alarm bells or upside down cereal bowls.
They have a
limited range and can fit in a small space.
The following paragraph comes from the GCNA website:
Chimes of 4 to 20 hemispherical bells, the largest sometimes weighing more than
1200 pounds, are known to have been made by the following English foundries and
Meneely of Watervliet U.S.A>:
- Gillett & Bland made at least 2 of them, in 1877-78
- Gillett, Bland & Co. made 1 in 1878
- Taylor made at least 4 of them from 1864 to 1875
- Warner made a few of them from 1875 to 1904
- Whitechapel made dozens of them, as Mears (1848-50), C&G Mears (1851), Mears &
Stainbank (1867-1932).
- Meneely of West Troy, NY made the only U.S. Chimolas, 4 of them, between 1924 and 1928.
The seven sets in the U.S.:
CT Old Greenwich, Boat House, Tods Point, 1901-CM-15, Markings appear to make
it a Warner, works off
circular drum, 2 hammers per bell, not rung together.
NJ Newark, Blessed Sacrament -1927-WT-CM-16 They claim it never was
there, but there are WT docs and a writeup that says they were loaded into a car
for the trip The entry is blurred. Could this be a Blessed Sacrament in
NYC?
NY Brooklyn, St. Bartholemews Church - 1928-WT-CM-11, elec, have WT docs.
NY Brooklyn, St. Thomas Episcopal -1924-WT-CM-11, elec., active, have WT docs.
NY Schenectady, Union Coll. - WT-1925-CM-11, manual, active, have WT and
Union College documentation. Played daily during term.
PA-Bangor, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran - WT-1926-CM-11, have WT docs.
--- now owned by Joe Connors, and manually played daily at the Sacandaga River/Reservoir in Fulton County, NY.
PA- Pittsburgh, First Baptist Ch. 1866-CM-12, Taylor, Mears & Stainbank?
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