Inside Clemson

Clemson’s carillon has a new ring to it

New bell for Clemson carrionBy Jackie Todd, office of Media Relations

Clemson’s carillon chimes are about to sound even better. A 3,000-pound bell became the newest addition to the Tillman Hall carillon Monday as workers very carefully removed the building’s north clock face and installed the bell.

Phillip Addington has been with Clemson for 16 years. As a civil survey project supervisor for the university’s facilities department, this is the first time that Addington and his team have embarked on such a complex – and stressful – project.

“This was a first for all of us” he said. “We had to remove the clock mechanism that turns the hands. Of course, with the brick being over 100 years old, we were concerned about the clock face. Once we loosened everything up, we were concerned about the clock falling out. We didn’t know how heavy it was, but once we got into it, we realized it wasn’t quite as heavy. This process was definitely trial and error.”

Comprised of 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin, the bell is the largest carillon bell ever cast by bell foundry Meeks, Watson & Company.

Bill Meeks, owner of the Ohio-based company, was on site for five days to oversee the laborious process of preparing and installing the bell. Meeks’ company has been in business since 1991 and in that time, he’s cast just four other bells of this magnitude.

“Not only is this the largest bell that we’ve cast, it’s the largest one cast in the U.S. in the past 75 years,” he said.

The bell, according to Meeks, was two years in the making.

“First we had to match the pattern of the existing bells,” he explained. “We had to take the profiles of the existing bells and design this bell to match that profiles so that the characteristics could be the same when the bell is played. Then we scaled to that note and made a false bell. One you have the false bell, then it is placed into the mold to make a cavity in the bell that equals the mold. The metal is then poured into the mold.”

The D#/E flat 3 bell will allow Clemson’s carillon to function in ways that it did not before. Many carillons, according to Meeks, are made and purchased without certain bells, typically because the bells are heavy and expensive.

“Thus, you are limited in the amount of music that can be played,” said Meeks. “Modern carillon music is written with the D# tone. So this inclusion of this bell will make a difference in the carillon.”

The bell was a gift from the Clemson’s Undergraduate Student Senate and the 2011-2012 student body.

More photos here.