Bell metal

MFA Acc. #: 20.6a

Description

A metal alloy used for casting bells and musical chimes. Bell metal is usually composed of copper with 15-40% tin, but may contain small amounts of zinc, iron, or lead for damping.

Synonyms and Related Terms

bell bronze; bronze cloches (Fr.); Glockenbronze (Deut.); klokkenbrons (Ned.)

MFA Acc. #: 32.342

Refractive Index	1.0052

Authority

• Richard S. Lewis, Richard S. Lewis, Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, 10th ed., 1993 Comment: copper with 15-40% tin

• External source or communication, External source or communication Comment: R.Child,"The Identification of Post-Industrial Revolution Metals" in Modern Metals in Museums, Institute for Archaeology Publications, London, 1988. - 15-25% tin

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998

• Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, at http://www.wikipedia.com Comment: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_metal (Accessed Oct. 18, 2005): cymbal alloys

• Random House, Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, Robert Weast (ed.), CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, v. 61, 1980 Comment: ref. index=1.0052