El Mirador Bell Tower - Santa Barbara, CA
Posted by: 
DougK
N 34° 25.450 W 119° 42.158
11S E 251631 N 3812501
The clock tower mechanism of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse underwent restoration that was completed in June, 2012.
Waymark Code: WMF00V
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 07/30/2012
Views: 4
The
Santa Barbara County Courthouse is a Spanish-Moorish building in the style of a palace, completed after the large earthquake of 1929. The
tower clock mechanism was built by the Seth Thomas Clock Company. The chiming mechanism had become irregular and was more of a tinkle than a toll. It didn't sound vibrant and appropriate to this grand building.
The Clock Team has been testing the new bell system that will be activated every quarter-hour by the Seth Thomas Tower Clock. In the past, the tower bells have been generated by an electronic carillon system that was not connected to the actual clock. So oftentimes when the chimes would play, it would not match the time on clock dial.
All of that has been solved by Bryan Mumford of Mumford MicroSystems, who has been volunteering his time to work on the new electronic system for the Santa Barbara Courthouse Clock. Mumford has obtained the bell sounds from the UCSB Storke Tower carillon system with the help of acoustical engineers at UCSB. Magnetic micro switches have been custom made and installed on the Seth Thomas Tower Clock that when triggered at the appropriate time, will instruct the electronics which bell sound to play and in what sequence.
The conversion of the Santa Barbara Courthouse Clock Room into a gallery of time is nearly completion. The project has been funded entirely by donations from two Santa Barbara families whose interest in timekeeping has motivated their yearlong restoration of the Santa Barbara Courthouse Seth Thomas Tower.
The new system which is driven by the clock will make certain that it is always in sync because it's the clock itself that is driving the sound of the bells. The sound that you will hear is the "Westminster Chime". It is the same sound that is made by Big Ben in London, England. However, the bells are still not "real". The sound is a digital recording that is timed precisely to the strike of the clock.
From the LA Times:
The tale of the tower starts four years ago with electrical engineer Mostyn Gale, an avid amateur horologist, or clock expert. Gale had become so fascinated by the courthouse clock that "as kind of a lark" he got permission from county architect Robert Ooley to maintain it.
On Saturday mornings, he would wedge himself into the dimly lighted storage closet that held the inner workings of the 1929 Seth Thomas: an assembly of golden gears clicking away in an upright, forest-green iron frame, connected by metal rods to the four huge dials outside.
"It was a fascinating, wonderful thing," he said.
Gale oiled what needed oiling and fixed what needed fixing. But certain gears were oddly pristine: "It was like the day they rolled out of the factory," he said. "They still had their finish. There was no wear on their teeth."
One day he made another astonishing find. Amid the room's clutter sat five dusty crates with shipping labels from 1929. Gale opened them, tearing through wads of vintage newspapers. Inside were five iron bell hammers, as pristine as the gears that were supposed to connect them to the bells that were supposed to toll for Santa Barbara.
Trouble is, there were no bells.
It wasn't any great secret, but neither was it something advertised by a city that embraces its past.
Nobody seems to knows exactly why no bells were installed. The Depression may have sidetracked plans for them. Someone may have realized they'd be too heavy for the tower, or, as was the case for Quasimodo, they would deafen tourists on the observation deck.
Santa Barbara is hardly unique. As it turns out, bells are a bit of smoke-and-mirrors in many churches and municipal buildings. While some have bells that are rung electronically, most have synchronized sound systems that broadcast recorded chimes, hymns or patriotic music.
"Nobody's really up there ringing bells" in most buildings, said Jim Verdin, whose family in Cincinnati has been making bells, tower clocks, electronic carillons and aluminum "shells" that resemble bells since 1842. With cutting-edge sound technology, he said, "the average person can't tell the difference."