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BOCHUM - W : GERMANY 19??*C non-trad Bell tower Westpark * made for a different site CAPE PALMAS : LIBERIA 19?? C non-trad Church Tower MAINZ - CK : GERMANY-BRD 19?? C non-trad Christuskirche MUENSTER-IN-W. - U : GERMANY-BRD 19?? C non-trad Universitätsturm POVOA DE VARZIM : PORTUGAL 19?? C non-trad Heart of Jesus Church STERKRADE : GERMANY-BRD 19?? C non-trad Hochhaus Clock Tower (Stadtmittehaus) CLAUSTHAL-ZELLERFELD/Z : GERMANY-BRD 19?? C chime Former post office building Bochum : Germany 1867 - great Town Hall plaza BOCHUM - R : GERMANY-BRD 1929 C (non-trad) Rathaus Berlin : Germany 1936 - great Olympic Stadium Neustadt an der Weinstraße : Germany 1949 - great/peal(1) Stiftskirche [bass bell] Neustadt an der Weinstraße : Germany 1949 - great/peal(2) Stiftskirche [second bell] BOCHUM - R : GERMANY-BRD 1951 C non-trad Rathaus PADERBORN - D : GERMANY-BRD 2017 - great Dom CLAUSTHAL-ZELLERFELD/C : GERMANY-BRD 1956 C non-trad Campanile Clausthal Univ. of Technology (was Bergakademie) Berlin : Germany 1961 - great Olympic Stadium
The "Bochumer Verein für Bergbau und Gußstahlfabrikation" (Bochum Association for Mining and Cast Steel Fabrication) was a somewhat local group of industrial facilities. Formed in 1854, it was the successor to the Gußstahlfabrik [Cast steel factory] Mayer und Kühne, and was commonly called simply the Bochumer Verein. From 1926 to 1951, it was part of Vereinigte Stahlwerke AG (commonly called the Stahlverein), a nationwide association of similar industrial facilities. Like its English competitor of the day, Naylor-Vickers, it was not primarily a bellfoundry; cast steel bells were a small but not insignificant part of its output.
German-language illustrated history of the Bochumer Verein
The Wikipedia article about Bochum asserts that bells were the first cast steel product of the Bochumer Verein.
An article (in German) about the long-time foundry director, Aloys Heuvers, has photos of the 1936 Olympic Bell and a monumental bell that was cast in 1948 for the Paulskirche in Frankfurt (but rejected as unmusical). The weight of the Paulskirche bell has not yet been discovered, so it is not listed as a great bell.
Long article (in German) about cast steel bells from Bochum. Unfortunately the English version of the city Website does not include a translation of this article. An included timeline shows that in 1850, Jacob Mayer, founder of the steel company "Bochumer Verein", invented a steel casting process.
Another article (also in German) reports that the first cast steel bell was exhibited at the Paris World's Fair in 1867.
Although this firm was producing cast steel bells in the mid-19th century, such bells were not made into chimes (glockenspiele) until well into the 20th century. (By contrast, Naylor-Vickers made a chime in 1860, though that was their only one). The total production of the Bochumer Verein over the course of nearly a century was over 20,000 bells.
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