Wheels
When we mechanically ring a bell using a rope, the first form of contact on the bell that rope faces is the wheel or in some chiming bells, they are rung by a lever. The history of the wheel has come very far so it is only appropriate we walk through the history of it.
To begin with, most if not all early bells were chimed by levers. It wasn't until levers were curved upwards that they realized that they can provide and add more power to the swing of the bell. A horizontal lever like the one at Tortington loose their power quickly.
It was probably at this stage that to get ever more power out of a bell, bell hangers must find a way of allowing the angle of swing to be great. The idea of having 2 or 3 spokes and joining them with a curved board along with shrouding so that the rope doesn't fall off the wheel was the early attempt of making the bell rise higher. This wheel is known as a Quarter wheel. A good example of one of these is at Withyham, St Johns.
As time went on, people must have wanted the bells to be rung higher. Instead of having a quarter wheel, the half wheel was designed. There are a number of half wheel designs around Sussex but the most unique one is at Poynings. The Robert Rider bell and Samuel Knight bell both have the shrouding separated using pegs which were tapered so the need for nails was not needed which would have rusted in. The Poynings half wheels also don't possess any board going round the wheel either. The half wheel would allow the ringer to get the angle to about 180 degrees.
This lead to the design of the three quarter wheel.
To get the bell to ring even higher to 360 degrees, the 4 wheel was born around the 17th century. This enabled ringers to begin learning the art of change ringing. Bell wheels are traditionally made out of wood. Very few very light rings and also mini rings occasionally have metal wheels. Immediately below is a labeled diagram showing the main features of a full wheel. There are several spokes and parts which go into the full wheel. Modern forms of full wheel are symmetrical. On the eye piece, in some cases, the date it was made was engraved onto this. A good example of this is at Crawley, St John the Baptist (2).
1. Shrouding
2. Transom
3. Main Spoke
4. High Spoke
5. Meeting Spoke
6. Bottoms Spoke
7. Screws
8. Eye Piece
9. Halving bolts
To begin with, most if not all early bells were chimed by levers. It wasn't until levers were curved upwards that they realized that they can provide and add more power to the swing of the bell. A horizontal lever like the one at Tortington loose their power quickly.
It was probably at this stage that to get ever more power out of a bell, bell hangers must find a way of allowing the angle of swing to be great. The idea of having 2 or 3 spokes and joining them with a curved board along with shrouding so that the rope doesn't fall off the wheel was the early attempt of making the bell rise higher. This wheel is known as a Quarter wheel. A good example of one of these is at Withyham, St Johns.
As time went on, people must have wanted the bells to be rung higher. Instead of having a quarter wheel, the half wheel was designed. There are a number of half wheel designs around Sussex but the most unique one is at Poynings. The Robert Rider bell and Samuel Knight bell both have the shrouding separated using pegs which were tapered so the need for nails was not needed which would have rusted in. The Poynings half wheels also don't possess any board going round the wheel either. The half wheel would allow the ringer to get the angle to about 180 degrees.
This lead to the design of the three quarter wheel.
To get the bell to ring even higher to 360 degrees, the 4 wheel was born around the 17th century. This enabled ringers to begin learning the art of change ringing. Bell wheels are traditionally made out of wood. Very few very light rings and also mini rings occasionally have metal wheels. Immediately below is a labeled diagram showing the main features of a full wheel. There are several spokes and parts which go into the full wheel. Modern forms of full wheel are symmetrical. On the eye piece, in some cases, the date it was made was engraved onto this. A good example of this is at Crawley, St John the Baptist (2).
1. Shrouding
2. Transom
3. Main Spoke
4. High Spoke
5. Meeting Spoke
6. Bottoms Spoke
7. Screws
8. Eye Piece
9. Halving bolts
Half wheels: Poynings, Holy Trinity (Unused 1,2)
Full wheel on wall: Rodmell, St Peter
Full wheel on wall: Rodmell, St Peter
