An Animated Ringer

This is a great image of what happens when we ring a bell "full circle." We start with the bell mouth up and pull on the fluffy bit (sallie) for what we call the "hand stroke." After the bell rotates almost 360 degrees we pull on the end of the rope to accomplish the "tail stroke."

The clapper actually hits the leading edge of the bell just before it becomes vertical and then rests on that edge. On larger bells it can take about two seconds between strikes of the bell.

A special thanks to Barney Stratford for allowing us to use his great image.

Dodging

This is what physically happens when the bells are known to “dodge." Dodging is when one bell rings before another, then the next time they strike the first bell strikes after the second. What you would hear is ‘ding’ ‘dong’ then about 2 seconds later you hear ‘dong’ ‘ding.' Then another 2 seconds later you hear ‘ding’ ‘dong.'

This is the effect of two bells swapping positions and in bell ringing terms it is called dodging.

Bell Swinging

This is a great image of a bell ringing "full circle."  The bell rotates about 300 degrees and the clapper actually hits the leading edge of the bell just before it becomes vertical and then rests on that edge. On larger bells it can take about two seconds between strikes of the bell.

On the bottom of the this image you can see the the "stay" on the bell headstock touching the "slider" which in turn is mounted on the frame. This device keeps the bell from over rotating.

The action of the rope as it goes around the wheel is also clear. When the rope goes most of the way around the wheel we are at "back stroke."

A special thanks to Chris Billinge for allowing us to use his great image. 

Cutaway of a Swinging Bell

Rounds on 5

These five ringers are pulling their bells in sequence from left to right, highest pitch to lowest pitch.