We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob AZ

"Bob AZ" wrote in message
...
We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob AZ


http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=45921

So any ideas?

How about a large solonoid?
Just don't act un-christian, like these guys.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2.../city-light-2/

To ring a bell, you pull the rope at the natural frequency of the bell
pendulum. Then release on the back stroke.

One suggestion, use an air cylinder. Apply air to pull rope then retract.
Fit it with exhaust valves to control speed and adjustable limits to control
stroke. Use a PLC to fire the air solenoids and set the time between
actions.

Second suggestion might not work but is much simpler. Attach a leverarm to a
gear motor with adjustable speed. Set it to pull the rope at the natural
harmonic frequency. For this to work, the motor is going to have to pull the
rope quick enough that slack develops on the end of the pull stroke,
allowing the leverarm to get back without tension on the rope. there might
be an ingenious mechanism to deal with this issue.

Karl

A good engineer would study the process first...

Mark the rope with a scale and a timer behind it. Video it when ringing in
steady state by hand just like you'd like it. Now watch the video frame by
frame for time and position. With good data on where the puller needs to be
vs. time a great simple mechanism should be easy to design.

Karl

"Bob AZ" wrote in message
...
We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob AZ

Use a gear motor with a cam to quickly pull and release the rope (or cable).
Select rpm of cam to suit frequency of chimes. A cam speed of 20 rpm would
yield a chime every 3 seconds.

A heavy duty spring in the rope or cable might be necessary to allow the
clapper to bounce, making the exact length of the rope or cable less
critical.

On Thu, 19 Mar 2009 22:25:37 -0700 (PDT), Bob AZ wrote:

We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob AZ

Spring-return solenoid at the bell end, timing motor running simple cam and
roller-micro-switch to make it go.

On Mar 19, 7:25*pm, Bob AZ wrote:
We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple *mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob *AZ

Why not call the last church bell manufacturing company in the US and
order one in the size for your bell. They'll even show up and install
it for a fee.
They were on Dirty Jobs a couple years ago.

http://www.mcshanebell.com/

and here's the bell ringer page.

http://www.mcshanebell.com/services/bellringers.html

Karl

On Mar 19, 7:25*pm, Bob AZ wrote:
We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple *mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob *AZ

I forgot to say or look at them to get ideas and make your own. This
youtube link shows one version and it's funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJEFeveR6UU
Karl

"Bob AZ" wrote in message
...
We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob AZ

I would think about a solenoid in place of the clapper.

To actuate the solenoid, you could either design an electronic circuit or
you could make a cam that runs on a gear reduction motor to trigger a
switch.


--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Mar 21, 3:39�am, kfvorwerk wrote:
On Mar 19, 7:25�pm, Bob �AZ wrote:

We need a Bell Ringing Mechanism for our church. The bell is about 16"
tall and about 16" in diameter. It has a clapper with a hole in the
bottom that was formerly activated by a simple �mechanism that
frequently failed. The mechanism pulled a rope attached to the
clapper.

We do prefer an electrically operated mechanism that we will simply
switch on and off for the duration of the ringing.

So any ideas?

Thanks
Bob �AZ

I forgot to say or look at them to get ideas and make your own. This
youtube link shows one version and it's funny.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJEFeveR6UU
Karl

Karl et al.

Thanks for the link. I also found some others that I will call Monday.

FWIW I did do a google search but apparently did not use the correct
search words.

Thanks to all.

Take care
Bob AZ