Clapper Failure at North Petherton
by Peter Gibbard
Since the rehanging of the bells in 2006 a maintenance schedule of checking the bells and fittings has been carried out every six months. At the beginning, as was to be expected, more frequent bolt tightening was needed. For the last four years only bolts involving timber have shown any slack. It was, therefore, a shock when the clapper from number four became detached.
It happened on Christmas Day 2014 ringing for the morning service. Henry Haslam, an experienced ringer from St Andrews Taunton, and father in law of our Rector, was ringing the fourth. Hearing the noise and noting the different feel of the bell he tried to stand the bell but it went right over. He suffered a rope burn on his left hand and delayed shock treated by Dr Barry Moyse who was ringing the third.
On inspection of the bell it was found that the slider had been dislodged, but not damaged, by the clapper, allowing the bell to over rotate.
The bolt attaching the crown staple, which the clapper hangs from, to the bell was sheared just above the staple.
After speaking with John Hallett, I called Andrew Nicholson in Bridport who asked me to speak to his staff after the holiday. I took the bits down to Bridport where it was noted that there was some wear in the staple bearing. A new staple and bolt were made and I collected the whole assembly next day (what great service) and fitted them with Paul Marchant.
The consensus was that there had to have been a slight looseness which led to movement and eventual failure. In the light of this we did an extra inspection of the other bells and could get no tightening of the retaining nuts despite using a long handled spanner and a lot of effort. As the leather washer fitted between the bell and the staple is compressed I shall expect some tightening to be needed very soon.
Our new sliders are S shaped and springy so a weight landing on one could well induce a bounce that would disconnect it from it's locating pin. This is the only way we can explain the situation since the locating pin was not damaged.
Apart from the lesson concerning maintenance is the one to never wrap the tail end round ones hand or hold the loop as if that had been done Henry would have been seriously injured.