County of cemetery: Franklin County
Location of cemetery: Jefferson St. & E. 14th St., Washington
Number of graves: 6,100+
Operated by St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church
This bell is a small garden setting, along side the veterans memorial flag pole, behind the cemetery chapel.
Text on the bell reads: "The C.S. Bell Company 24 Hillsboro, O." on the front side of the yoke and "NO. 24 Yoke" on the rear.
I assume there was once a chapel here with a bell tower, or else this bell came from one of the old churches in town where St. Francis Borgia Catholic Church is built.
"So many people have inquired about bells made by the C. S. Bell Co. of Hillsboro, Ohio, that we have decided to post an article on bells by this firm. It isn’t surprising so many people have a bell by them as they were the largest producer of big bells in North America. During the peak bell production decade of the 1880’s they turned out as many as 20,000 bells each year.
"About their bells: The C.S.Bell Co.bells were made in diameters from 12? through 48? (in 2? increments), then the size jumped to their largest at 54?. The farm or dinner bells were 12? through 18?, the school bells ran from 20? through 28?, and their church and fire alarm bells ran from 30? through 48?, then jumped to 54?. The school bells were cast with a thinner wall to give them a higher “dingy” sound so they would not be mistaken for the church or fire bells.
"School and church bells had a yoke, clapper, two A frame stands (shaped like the letter A), and a wheel for a rope to swing the bell. School and smaller church bells came with an iron wheel, and the larger church bells came with a wooden wheel. Fire alarm bells were the same as church bells, but without a yoke as they were stationary, not swinging bells, and they had a triangular clapper so there were two balls at the two lower points of the triangle. This was so the bell could be rung rapidly to sound the alarm." ~ The American Bell Association
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