BELL YOKE C.S. BELL CO. 1886 CAST IRON

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ANTIQUE BELL YOKE C.S. BELL& CO. HILLSBORO OHIO This item is used. It is in good condition. This yoke is cast iron with the embossing of C.S. Bell & Co. Hillsboro O. 1886 and FF. The ringer arm is hand forged. The rocker pivot tip to tip distance is about 20" and from the pivot flange about 14 1/2". The round rocker pivots are 1" in dia by about 1 1/2 long with the ringer arm attachment boss about 1" square by 2" long. The bell support hole is 3/4". Yoke inside at top is 8" which flares to 10" at bottom level with rocker pivots. Hope my wording is correct. The following is some history. Sorry no bell. C.S. BELL CO. /csz_stl/towerbells/HillsboroFoundry.html Festival of the Bells Annually the City of Hillsboro, Ohio, sponsors a festival near the fourth of July. This is known as the Festival of the Bells, and commemorates Hillsboro 's heritage as a major bell producer. The Festival of the Bells celebrated each July in Hillsboro , Ohio , is an outgrowth of a successful 1976 Bicentennial Celebration of the founding of our country. When local citizens were searching for a permanent name for a yearly celebration, it was noted that at one time Hillsboro was famous for the production of steel alloy bells, which were shipped around the world. In addition to church, school, farm and mission bells (one of these was listed among the "Bells That Changed The World" used on Molokai Island by Fr. Damien to call his stricken lepers to worship), t were thousands of Invasion Bells used on U.S. Navy ships during the invasion of Normandy June 6, all manufactured by our local C.S. Bell Company. The huge bell in front of the Highland County Historical Society, on Main Street , was a mate to the largest bell ever cast by the foundry. It was used in a parade when the town was 100 years old and again at the celebration of the Sesquicentennial in 1957. During the war years it was used to sell bonds and finally to ring the glad tidings of peace. Charles Singleton Bell was born in Cumberland , Maryland on February 7, 1828. After completing a common school education he went to Pittsburgh to learn the foundry business from his uncle, Alexander Bradley. He came to Ohio to take charge of the Whitley Foundry in Springfield and later moved on to Dayton . On January 7, 1858, he began the operation of his own company in Hillsboro . Starting with two employees and a weekly payroll of $7.00, they processed 8 tons of pig iron the first year. The early foundry was located in a frame building near the B & O Railroad Depot. A few years later, a second foundry was built on the corner of Main and North West Streets. James K. Marley became a partner and ran the showroom while Mr. Bell operated the foundry. In 1869, Bell purchased Marley's interest and continued to add more items to his list of products, which were to include Mogul stoves, caboose stoves, coffee hullers and pulpers, grinders, corn and cob crushers, burr and hammer typed feed mills, a machine called the "Tortilla" (used in Mexico and South America to grind hominy), sorghum and maple syrup evaporators, plows and garden rollers, and the "Perfection" cane mill made to be sold by the Montgomery Ward Company. The manufacture of bells began in 1875. Sales for the first year came to something over 1,000 units. By 1890, sales had increased to over 20,000 and fifteen sizes were being produced. The bells were divided into two classes, farm bells weighing from 40 to 100 pounds each, and school and church bells known as "steel alloy bells" weighing from 150 to 1,000 pounds. Mr. Bell experimented with formulas of various metals searching for an alloy cheaper to produce than brass, but more durable than iron. After many failures he was successful and discovered that his alloy could be pitched to create a very mellow tone. It was this tone and durability that made his bells famous throughout the world. Mr. Bell was a prominent citizen of Hillsboro , and is still regarded... read more

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