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Random Facts about Bells
The Biggest Bell in the World - There is a bell in the
Temple of Clars, at Kinto, Japan, which is larger than the
great bell of Moscow, or any other. It is covered with
Chinese and Sanskrit characters which Japanese scholars have
not yet succeeded in translating. There is no record of its
casting. Its height is 24 ft., and at the rim it has a
thickness of 16 in. It has no clapper, but is struck on the
outside by a kind of wooden battering-ram. We are unable to
obtain any more exact particulars as to the dimensions of
this bell in order to determine whether or no it really does
excel the "Monarch" of Moscow, which weighs about 193 tons,
is 19 ft. 3 in. in height, 60 ft. 9 in. in circumference,
and 2 ft. thick.
There is another huge bell at Moscow,
and those at Amazapoora, in Burmah, and at Pekin are far
bigger than any we have in this country. Our biggest bell is
"Great Paul," which was cast at Loughborough in 1881, and
which weighs 17-1/2 tons.
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