Ceasar Rodney's Dinner Bell

[Oceans64]

Hope all is well with the hubs Mart!!

[frogpatch]

I certainly hope all is well too!

[mart]

He is ok more or less !! He has some back problems since his Army days,, couple of breaks,, but only gave problems occassionally and was better in a week or so of rest !! But recently a couple of vertibrae moved out of alignment and is pressing on some nerves !!  He has to use a walker because he can`t straighten up and if he moves wrong it can put him on the floor !! I am 5'1" and 112lbs and he is 6' and about 200lbs !!  I don`t think that computes to me having to pick him up !! LOL  Anyway he had a CT Myelogram done Monday to see what nerves are affected !! Test wasn`t much but we had to drive 80 miles each way and he had to stay in recovery 4 hours after the test !! It was just a long day with no more sleep than I got the night before the test !!
Thanks all for the thoughts !!

[KevinB]

I hope he feels better mart. I broke my back before and have had problems with my spine shifting and pressing on nerves. If I'm not careful about the way I move my spine shifts and I end up on the floor with no control of my legs, pouring sweat and shivering from the shock of the pain. The pain makes my muscles tense up as a natural reaction to prevent further injury but it actually prevents my vertebrae from shifting back to where they are supposed to be and it just keeps constant pressure on the nerves. After I calm down and relax my muscles I can actually feel my vertebrae shift back. If its a really bad shift it could take me weeks or even a month or two to fully recover.

Over time I learned to keep alot of my back muscles flexed all of the time to prevent any shifting and it has been working excellent for me. Its pretty tiring keeping muscles tensed up all the time but I'm back to living a pretty normal life and most people wouldn't even notice I ever broke my back. Every Doctor I see looks at my back and says your having some severe muscle spasms and they try and treat that with meds. They can't seem to understand that I'm making those muscles spasm because thats the only way I can keep my spine from crushing my nerves.

Well anyway I hope he feels better but I figured just incase it was a similar issue your hubby is dealing with that maybe I could explain the only way I figured out how to function.

[mart]

Thanks Kevin,, but  I think his will have to be surgically corrected !!  His vertibrae do not shift and are stuck in one position !!  At his age, 79, keeping those muscles flexed might be out of the question !!  But at least they said it can be fixed !!  Sorry you have a similar problem !! Its not fun I know,, and I hope yours does not get worse !!

[KevinB]

Wow 79! I had no clue mart. I figured 50's or 60's. I can't wait to hear about when the doctors get him fixed up. 

[mart]

LOL !!  I am the one younger at 62 !!~  Till last few years we were traveling in our motor home, fishing from lake to lake here in Texas !! But he had colon cancer and a bit of it went to his lungs but 4 or 5 surgeries later it is gone !!  Now we just need to fix this back problem !! I don`t think he is going to be on the tractors much this spring !!

[hosman321]

This is a bit closer to the type of bell and hardware I would expect to see. And this one is mid-1800s.
http://seattle.craigslist.org/sno/atq/2845210699.html



First things first - this bell unfortunately has a small crack on the lip that goes all the way through. This obviously affects the value seriously, it would probably be worth well over $1000 if it had no crack. I have no way of knowing how the tone has been affected, but it still rings very nice to my ears. With that out of the way here is more info!

I really didn't know anything about these old bells except the basic knowledge. People call these bells brass or bronze, but really they are a special alloy called "bell metal" which is about 4:1 copper to tin. It gives bells a much better tone and resonance than the other metal mixtures. Pretty much all the info I got on this bell was from a bell collector forum which is this:

The iron rod and rope pull are original. The bell probably dates to the 1830-60 period. It could have been used on a church, school, fire station, farm or plantation, riverboat, or in any public place requiring a bell. More than likely it was not used on a locomotive (wrong mounting) or ocean vessel (stationary instead of swinging). The bell has some features suggesting a Stuckstede bell. The yoke is a bit unusual as it does not fold around the crown and may have been fabricated somewhat later than the original. The clapper attachment suggests a bell from the mid 19th century.

Here are the specs: 40 lbs, 12" diameter bell, 8 1/4" height (just bell), 11" height total, and yoke is 21" wide. Has a great green patina with some rust and other discoloration. It would make a great functional bell as-is or would look awesome polished and mounted. I would normally never recommend removing the original patina but since it is cracked it would be a better candidate than an intact one.



http://gngs.smugmug.com/For-Sale/cummings/19827413_xxSvh2#!i=1598657697&k=4zczGgt

[hosman321]

The last link I posted is not working when you click on it. You have to copy the entire link and then paste it into the search bar.