Updates and new post

A few updates and a new post today, November 23, 2015:

The following pages have been updated:

About the Bells (lockouts and brackets on the chimestand - go to the bottom of the page)
When the Bells Will Be Rung (Call to Worship for 3 PM Christmas Eve service added)
Program of Tunes

A caption was added to the change ringing image in the post, "What is a Chime?" (below).

December 13, 2015, marked the 116th anniversary of the dedication of the Jefferies Chime.

Update to "Silencing the Bells"

Looking up inside "Peace," the number four bell.  The slice of a moped tire on the clapper is rotated  90° to silence the bell.  Note the flat spot on the clapper indicating the side that was originally used before it was turned around for additional use.  Also note the new spring (2014) which is stainless steel, replacing a spring that had rusted out.

So what do the "silencers" look like on a bell in the Jefferies Chime?  See above.  A picture is worth a thousand words - I'll say no more.

Replacing the "bumper" on the chimestand

On Labor Day weekend, 5-7 September 2015, I finally completed a project that had been underway far too long.  There is a rubber bumper (probably the wrong term but I don't know what else to call it) above the handles that is supposed to cushion the shock when they bounce back after the clapper has struck the bell.  The old bumper wasn't cushioning anything.  It was far beyond its service life - hard and brittle and broken in a number of places.  I was lucky to find a polyurethane replacement that was the exact same size, basically a 1" square cross section.  The bumper is held in place by metal brackets on either side of each handle, which means there should have been twenty but one was completely missing and one was missing all but the top "L" so what was left was more like 18½ brackets.

The old "bumper" above the handles.  Note the "bulge" above the second handle from the right, 

the missing bracket to the right of the third handle, and the breaks above the fifth handle.  The dark stains on the wood above the bumper are testimony to a vain attempt to loosen the screws through lubrication. 

The problem that developed was that many of the screws holding the brackets to the chimestand had rusted in place due to the humidity in the tower over the years.  Only two came out using a screwdriver, the rest seemed to be welded in place.  Months of frustrations with very little progress followed.  Using an impact driver and other knuckle-busting "enhanced techniques" I was finally able to remove all but three of the brackets.  Over a year had passed since this project started (why it is often hard psychologically to start new projects).

My original plan had been to remove the rust from the brackets using a wire wheel on a rotary bench grinder and then paint them with rust-preventive paint.  Having bought a new screw extractor set, my original plan for the Labor Day weekend  had been to remove the last three brackets and start cleaning them up for repainting.  On the first screw, I succeeded in getting the pilot hole drilled pretty much dead center in the head of one of the rusted screws (that is at least half the battle).  Then I applied the screw extractor and it gripped the screw.  It was beginning to look like victory when the screw extractor broke.  Yes. indeed, the screw was so firmly rusted in place that the tip of the screw extractor had broken off and was firmly lodged in the head of the screw.

I felt defeated.  But then I got the idea I could make the project simpler and faster.  Maybe, with only three brackets to go through, I could thread the new polyurethane bumper through those three brackets.  Even though the brackets created a lot of friction, it worked.  I decided I could finish the job before then end of the day (Labor Day) by giving up the cleaning and painting of the brackets, at least for now.  The job would be done before I returned home.   After many delays and setbacks, it was time to wrap this project up.

The three recalcitrant brackets far right (one) and center right (two).

 The new polyurethane bumper threaded through the recalcitrant brackets and some of the other brackets screwed in place - with stainless steel screws.

All the available brackets in place.  The missing bracket position was moved to the left of the 2nd lightest bell (#8, 2nd handle from the left) since it has the second lightest clapper.  Since the lightest
bell (#9) is at the end of the bumper, I wanted to keep both brackets there.  You can also see the broken "half bracket" to the left of the 3rd handle from the left (#7 bell) which provides support against the top of the bumper where it is most needed when the handle comes flying back up.
  

The white vinyl 1x2 reinforcing bar screwed in place with brass (non-rusting) screws.  Before

installing the bar, I placed felts above each handle on top of the polyurethane bumper.  These did two

 things:  (1) they compensated for the thickness of the brackets; and (2) they provided additional "give" and cushioning when the handles strike the bumper.  The reinforcing bar should prevent the kind of bulges and breakages seen in the previous rubber bumper. 

Another view of the completed work.  Note the appearance of the two leftmost handles.  It is amazing

 what furniture polish and a little bit of elbow grease will do to erase the dust and years of neglect when there is good wood underneath assembled with true craftsmanship.  Meneely built these instruments for the ages. 

Another view of the completed work.

Silencing the Bells

Why would we want to silence the bells?  Because it's the only way to practice on the bells without subjecting all within listening range to the monotony and pains of rehearsal (repetitions, mistakes, trying out different arrangements, etc.)  Like most chimes ( and unlike most carillons), the Jefferies Chime does not have a separate chimestand or console for practicing.

Finding a way to silence the bells came courtesy of some English folks - the Kent County Association of Change Ringers, very clever and resourceful people - who figured out a way (and posted it on the internet) to cut moped tires and mount the resulting U-shaped pieces of rubber on bell clappers, thereby effectively silencing the bells.  (Automobile tires with their radial plies are way too difficult to cut and, even if they could be, the resulting sharp edges from their radial construction would be a safety hazard.)

If you are interested in how this is done, here's a link to the document:

Silencing bells for instruction 

The pictures from above link show change ringing bells with the silencers in place (bottom) and turned 90° to allow the bell to ring (top):

What is a chime?

Chimes

A chime is a musical instrument consisting of from eight to twenty-two bells usually placed in a tower.  Eight bells ( a diatonic scale or one octave) is considered the minimum necessary to be able to play tunes.  Additional bells may extend the range or add chromatics (half tones).  The Jefferies Chime has ten bells:  eight are the diatonic scale, one extends the range to a tone above the scale, and one is a chromatic equivalent to a B-flat if you think of the diatonic scale as a C-scale.  The B-flat adds a great deal of versatility as it allows playing tunes in the key of F.  There is another hand-rung chime nearby (across the Wissahickon creek) at Saint Timothy's, Roxborough (fourteen bells).  Cornell University in New York state has a chime of twenty-two bells.

Carillons

Twenty-three or more bells (a range of two octaves and fully chromatic except possibly for the lowest two or three notes) make a carillon.  There are two carillons in Germantown:  The 50-bell Shelmerdine Memorial Carillon of the First United Methodist Church of Germantown at 6001 Germantown Avenue and the 47-bell carillon of the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal at 500 East Chelten Avenue.  (The original 26-bell carillon at the Shrine, installed in 1901, is the fourth oldest carillon in North America.  Coincidentally, the Shrine's tower was completed in 1899, the same year that the Jefferies Chime was constructed, installed, and dedicated.)

Rings

A ring of change-ringing bells usually consists of at least four bells that rotate and are rung in mathematical sequences by a band of ringers, one ringer per bell.  There are two sets of change-ringing bells currently operational in Philadelphia: Saint Mark's at 1625 Locust Street in center city and Saint Martin's-in-the-Fields at 8000 Saint Martin's Lane in Chestnut Hill.

Philadelphia Guild of Change Ringers at Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest in Abilene, Texas