BellSim

26/02/2024

After a successful trial last year with a borrowed projector for Abelsim, now have a fixed installation with a short throw overhead projector and a 100" screen. Can now use BellSim to teach rounds, plain hunt and other methods. Much better than the tiny screen I had before and allows realistic ropesight ! Well done Julia - really good striking !

21/12/2023

Another new bell ringer being taught on BellSim. Ringing in rounds and ready for practice in the tower at Whalley, Lancashire.
Well done Sue for overcoming your fears and enjoying bell ringing again !

Currently spending around 2 hours per week teaching bell ringing for beginners and improvers on BellSim with more new folk lined up for January !

20/06/2023

Experimented with a large projector screen yesterday as a trial to display the AbelSim ringers and rung a course of Grandsire Triples on BellSim with Whalley bell #6 selected.

The experience was just like ringing with an actual band of ringers on an real tower bell. Ropesight was perfectly possible and you had to look around to find bells to follow just like in the tower. Off the scale for realism !!

In addition to teaching rope handling skills also shows how modern bell simulators like BellSim can really help the learning of method ringing while still having the feel and go of an actual church bell.

27/05/2023

Just started teaching, another student from scratch this morning on BellSim. Getting on very well with backstroke after the very first lesson. Keep up the good work Mark !!

24/05/2023

First student Stuart, taught to ring on BellSim by Adrian West rang in the tower with Whalley Bellringers last night. Succeeded in ringing a real church bell for the very first time with both handstroke and backstroke actions. A little more bell handling work to do but a great start on learning to ring.

11/05/2023

Another 3 hours ringing on BellSim this afternoon. Teaching two students with one learning basic bell handling and the other improving bell handling, ringing rounds and learning plain hunt on 5. Both students progressing really well. Then some well struck Stedman triples for me before a well earned cuppa 😀😀

11/05/2023

Software simulation of a English full circle style church bell and clapper in motion. There are no rope forces applied to the wheel so the bell naturally swings towards the downward position due to frictional forces. Similar equations of motion used within the BellSim software and with the addition of rope force, the bell can be rung correctly at all times. This simulation uses measured parameters from bell #6 at Whalley Parish Church.

11/05/2023

Here is a 3D CAD image of the 8 bells of Whalley Parish Church in Lancashire, UK. Bell masses: Treble (smallest bell): 276kg and Tenor (largest bell): 1110kg all without fittings. All these 8 bells are programmed into BellSim for selection from the touch screen.

11/05/2023

BellSim simulation of the treble bell at Whalley, Lancashire being rung down. Note the ability to chime the clapper when the bell is fully down. Great for teaching students to handle the rope and take coils while ringing a realistic bell down into the safe position.

11/05/2023

BellSim simulation of the treble bell at Whalley, Lancashire being rung up. Note the accuracy of the clapper strike while the bell is raised from the fully down position. Great for teaching students to handle the rope and let the coils go while ringing a realistic bell up into the ringing position.

11/05/2023

Invented and built in Whalley, Lancashire, UK by Adrian West.

Welcome to the BellSim page dedicated to news and events about the worlds first, advanced electrically driven English church bell simulator concept. The simulator prototype has been designed first and foremost to allow the teaching of English church bell ringing in a safe and controlled environment.

BellSim uses a high performance electric servo motor to control an actual bell rope with rope forces the same as actual bells. The motion of the bell and clapper are simulated within software, and BellSim will simulate any size of bell capable of being rung by a single bell ringer with bells being selected at will using a touch screen interface.

Motion of the bell rope can be stopped at any time by an instructor while teaching the art of handling a bell and this greatly improves student confidence. In a similar way the rope motion can be slowed down to allow close examination of rope handling techniques. Safety is further improved since the rope will automatically stop if unexpected forces are encountered for example if the ringer fails to let go of the rope sally.

Trend and numerical displays of for example rope force and ringing efficiency allow students to 'self learn' and so modify their actions to achieve desired bell handling requirements.

BellSim interfaces directly with Abelsim to produce the bell sounds and allow rounds and method ringing.

For comprehensive information about BellSim see here:

An English church bell simulator designed using industrial automation techniques and equipment. Solves the bell equations of motion in real time within an industrial PLC controller.

10/05/2023

Introductory video showing BellSim in action compared to a real church bell rung in the English full circle style.