One of all the different types of exterior clocks are the small brass bells. This is not a clock in the usual meaning (with a clockwork, two hands and numbers) but can still send messages about what time it is through its ringings. Bells has been the most common type of exterior clock for very long but today the bells are replaced by other sorts of exterior clocks about which you can read in other articles on this site. The bells were mostly cast in brass. Today small brass bells are seen not only as exterior clocks but also for many other purposes. They can be out up as decoration on houses and animals (mostly cats, rabbits or small dogs) can have them in their necklace and so on. When agriculture and farms were more common, all of the cows wore small brass bells in their necklaces. Small brass bells are especially common at Christmas time or other traditional events like breaking-up days at school, not functioning as an exterior clock but more symbolically. The ringing of the ship bell tells the men on the deck that it's time for meal. In bigger households a small hand brass bell can also call the people to dinner.
Some people have a small brass bell as a doorbell (far from being an exterior clock) and small bells are also used in jewelry and for oriental things like belly dance. In some shops, there's a small brass bell the customers can use to get the managers attention. At some places in the world, there are not small brass bells or exterior clocks but extremely big bells in churches. These are often very old and when one sees them, one wonders how they ever got in place since no advanced technique was available at that time. It's really amazing! But you don't want to stand too close to these huge church bells when they start ringing... The sound is so high because long ago when the exterior clock at the church might have been the only thing people had to rely on in the matter of what time it was, the ringings had to reach out even to the most distant house. The ringings of the bell also called people to the masses. One position in the church was totally devoted to the bell, the one the bell man who swung the rope was holding. Nowadays maybe this correspond to the men who sets the exterior clocks...
Exterior clocks like small brass bells can be of different qualities. The can be solid and heavy or made of a lighter alloy with a coating of another metal. Depending on what the bells are made of, their tone and durability varies. Since the small brass bells aren't actual exterior clocks, their main purpose doesn't have to be to be useful. They can just as well simply be decorative. If you want a bell for decoration you can buy an architectural bell shell instead of an exterior clock. These are more inexpensive than the cast ones because they are made of hand laid fiberglass with a metal cover. Except from the usual exterior clocks, there are also digital bells, or carillons as they're also called. These come with the opportunity to choose between a wide range of sounds, for example bell peals, hour-strike, angelus, funeral tolls, melodies and Westminster Chimes.
If you for different reasons like the construction or condition of the building, can't have a mounted swinging bell or exterior clock, you can choose a stationary mounted bell. These doesn't have the hardware required for the bell to be able to swing but nonetheless the bell can make sound thanks to electromagnetic bell clappers and hammers.
