Issue 10, Fall 2004                                       Contents

Liberty Bell Cast by buyCASTINGS Member Used to Ring in Freedom at the Opening of the Iraqi Stock Exchange

buyCASTINGS.com supplied the Liberty Bell to commemorate the opening of the Iraq Stock Exchange. This replica of the original liberty bell is a bell bronze casting which rings with a powerful tone that was used to open the exchange on July 19th.  Let Freedom Ring is the logo on the bell cast at BIMAC Corp. of Dayton, Ohio, one of the foundries participating in the buyCASTINGS network of metal casting foundries.        

 “We have a great history behind the making of this bell which is a scaled replica of the Liberty Bell …” said Mr. Bob Dzugan, President, buyCASTINGS. Ms. Ann Exline Starr, working with the Philadelphia Stock Exchange found buyCASTINGS.com and the liberty bell posted on it’s site through the Internet and called in to place a rush order for the bell.

In 1996, the bell replica was originally produced by a Dayton area team of companies to prove out new technologies like reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and investment casting technology under an EMTEC sponsored project.

Here are some of the more interesting points to note about the original bell:

• The Bell was sent from England on the ship Hibernia.
• The bell cracked the first time it was rung.
• The bell weighed 2080 pounds when it was cast.
• The strike note of the Bell is E-flat.
• On June 6, 1944, when Allied forces landed in France, the sound of the bell was broadcast to all parts of the country
• There are three known recordings of the Bell. Two were made in the 1940s for radio stations to play; the third is currently owned by Columbia Records.
• About 1,500,000 people annually make a pilgrimage to the Bell.
• On the bell, "Pennsylvania" is spelled "Pensylvania"
• When the Liberty Bell first cracked, it was given to Pass & Stow to recast. A replacement bell was ordered from Whitechapel Foundry in England. The Pass & Stow bell was completed and installed before the new one came from Whitechapel.
• As an April Fools (1996) joke, Taco Bell ran a full-page ad in various newspapers, including The New York Times, claiming to have bought the Liberty Bell.

 "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof"

Tradition tells of a chime that changed the world on July 8, 1776, with the Liberty Bell ringing out from the tower of Independence Hall summoning citizens to hear the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence by Colonel John Nixon.
The Pennsylvania Assembly ordered the Bell in 1751 to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of William Penn's 1701 Charter of Privileges.

Penn's charter, Pennsylvania's original Constitution, speaks of the rights and freedoms valued by people the world over. Particularly forward thinking were Penn's ideas on religious freedom, his liberal stance on Native American rights, and his inclusion of citizens in enacting laws. 

The Liberty Bell Center was opened in October, 2003. On every Fourth of July, at 2pm Eastern time, children who are descendants of signers of the Declaration of Independence symbolically tap the Liberty Bell 13 times while bells across the nation also ring 13 times in honor of the patriots from the original 13 states.