Chime (bell instrument)

The word chime dates back to the 14th-century Middle English word , meaning 'cymbal'. It probably originates from the Old French or directly from the Latin . The Latin word was shortened in Old French and misinterpreted as in Middle English, where the meaning shifted by the mid-16th century to "set of bells in a church or clock tower, apparatus or arrangement for striking bells". ==Characteristics==

Construction There are several mechanisms of action for a chime. From the 13th century, a chime was connected to a system of ropes, which is rarely seen today. These resemble the console of a carillon, but with much larger keys, essentially handles, which are depressed a greater distance. A Chime may also feature an automatic mechanism by which simple tunes or the Westminster Quarters are played. The mechanism on European chimes is often a playing drum, which is a large metal cylinder connected to a clock mechanism. Metal pegs are screwed onto the outside of the drum. When the clock mechanism sets the drum in motion, the pegs catch onto levers, which are connected to hammers that rest just a short distance from the outside of the bell. The hammers are briefly raised, and then fall onto the bell as the peg continues to rotate away from the lever. The pegs are arranged such that simple tunes can be programmed to play at specific quarter hours. In North America, automatic playing drum systems are not common; instead, chimes may have pneumatic systems which ring the instrument. Sound Chime bells are made of bell bronze, a specialized copper-tin alloy used for its above-average rigidity and resonance. A bell's weight and profile, or shape, determine its note and the quality of its tone. It produces a sound with overtones or partial tones which are not necessarily harmonically related. To produce a pleasing, harmonically related series of tones, the bell's profile must be carefully adjusted. Few chime bells have been tuned to the same precision as bells for carillons. Range The range of a chime is directly proportional to the number of bells it has. The instrument's total number of bells usually depends on funds available for the creation of the instrument: more money allows more bells to be cast, especially the larger, more costly ones. It is generally accepted that a chime has at most 22 bells; larger instruments are called carillons. The average chime has 8 to 15 bells arranged in a diatonic scale. Occasionally, chimes may include an extra B♭ or F♯ bell so that a wider range of melodies can be played. ==History==

), circa 1370 A.D. Europeans developed chimes from wracks of small hammer-struck bells into large tower-mounted bells played with mechanized assistance. The chime and the carillon's histories are mostly identical up until their debut in North America. The Meneely foundries dominated the market; before both ceasing operations in the 1950s, they cast a combined total of more than 65,000 bells. ==Distribution==

Chimes across the world are counted and registered by Tower Bells, among other bell instruments, which also publishes maps, technical specifications and statistics. According to TowerBells, there are over 1,300 existing chimes. They can be found on every continent except Antarctica; however, of the countries in which chimes can be found, only 16 have more than 10. The Netherlands and the United States account for over half of the world total. About 90 percent are located in either Western Europe or North America. ==Notable chimes==

• The Altgeld Chimes in the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Altgeld Hall. • The Cornell Chimes in Cornell University's McGraw Tower. ==See also==