Fire bell
A fire bell (also alarm bell or storm bell ) is a bell that is used to ring a storm in the event of an alarm . It served to gather the fire brigade and other helpers, in some places also the entire population.
Stop and types
The fire bell, often called braillard (" screaming neck ") in French because it usually had an inharmonious sounding without a pronounced striking sound , had to be robust enough to withstand the persistent storm chimes. Instead of using a clapper, it could often be struck from the outside with a hammer. It is either one of several bells in the belfry of a church or the bell of a city tower like the Perlach tower in Augsburg , a tower watchman's house like the Dörnle in Widdern or a fire station like the Houghton Fire Hall . On buildings such as the Seckbach town hall , the fire bell is often attached to a roof turret so that it is visible all around .
The watchmen and the sextons were obliged to ring the fire bell if there was any sign of fire and had to use flags to indicate the direction of the fire.
As a secular bell, apart from its sound, the fire bell was often distinguished from the prayer bell by inscriptions and decorations . The secular bells hang in church towers sometimes in their own belfry, such as the sinful bell and the fire bell in the Basilica of St. Martin (Amberg) .
history
From the Middle Ages to the 19th century, little changed in the use of a fire bell. The fire and breakdown regulations of the city of Zurich stated in 1834: “The fire walkers from the country consist of a fire chief and 30–33 young volunteers. These have, after given by St. Peter storm with the bell a character or they are otherwise called for by the biasing provided fire syringe along with litter cars in Oetanbach provided may be placed with Tansen and Schüffen [water vessels] to provide. Only if the distance is usually not more than 2 hours will the journey take place. "
As recently as 1865, tower guards in New York City had to manually ring bells if they discovered a fire. The district in which the fire broke out was indicated by the number of chimes. In parallel with the development of electrical telegraphy , in conjunction with Wagner's hammer as a drive, the fire alarm was automated and electrified in the second half of the 19th century.
At the beginning of the 19th century, in the countryside in many villages in the Duchy of Nassau, when a fire was detected, the local teachers had to ring the storm bell with the fire bell and sound the alarm. Certain residents had to bring the fire engine immediately . Not every village had one. A fire walker had to request another fire pump if necessary.
Today, fire bells are only used in smaller towns. In the 20th century they were replaced by sirens . In the meantime, they have often been removed from the bell towers, like the two fire bells in the basement of the Bern Minster .
Fire bell time
"Fire bell" was sometimes also called a ringing of the fire bell, which signaled the curfew or the evening covering of the fire places for fire prevention (English curfew , French couvre-feu ), during the so-called fire bell time , and was common in northern Europe in particular.
Artistic representations
In novels, plays ( Demetrius , 1857, Meister Oelze , 1892) and historical films ( Call of the Wild Geese , 1961), the fire bell traditionally serves as an effective means of dramatization.
The composer Gottfried von Eine uses a fire bell and a station bell as musical instruments in his opera The Visit of the Old Lady (1971) .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eric Sutter: Code et langage des sonneries de cloches en Occident on campanologie.free.fr (PDF) p. 9, accessed on October 22, 2014.
- ↑ Karl Alexander: Newly revised fire-extinguishing regulations for the Upper Bavarian residence city of Bayreuth. Schwenter, Bayreuth 1782, p. 26, § 4, 5.
- ↑ Professional fire brigade of the city of Züroch: Museum , accessed on October 21, 2014.
- ^ Telephones and Telegraphs 1902. Government Printing Office, Washington (DC) 1906, p. 134.
- ^ Franz-Josef Sehr : The fire extinguishing system in Obertiefenbach from earlier times . In: Yearbook for the Limburg-Weilburg district 1994 . The district committee of the Limburg-Weilburg district, Limburg-Weilburg 1993, p. 151-153 .
- ↑ Fire bell. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 3 : E – research - (III). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1862, Sp. 1593 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).