Bell pull

In Company shocked at a Lady getting up to Ring the Bell (1805), James Gillray caricatured suitors eager to save a lady the effort of using a bell pull.
A Bell pull and bell in a BEST bus in Mumbai, India.

A bell pull is a woven textile, pull cord, handle, knob, or other object that connects with a bell or bell wire, and which rings a bell when pulled. Bell pulls are used to summon workers in homes of people who have butlers, maids or other servants,[1][2] and often have a tassel at the bottom.[3] The bell pull is one element of a complex interior mechanical network which typically in Victorian times involved a range of bell pulls in different rooms; moreover, these bell connections link to a central bank of bells in a room where servants would await commands.[2]

Central bell panel

In the 19th century some hotels used to have a panel with a bell for each room as a centralized bell system.[2]

Transport

A bell pull is also used in some forms of public transport, mostly buses to signal to the bus driver to stop the bus.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Englishmen's Dining Rooms". New York Times. 2 September 1894. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 Larry Nash White; Emily Blankenship White (February 2004). Marietta. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 34–. ISBN 978-0-7385-3231-8. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  3. ↑ "New London Millinery". Poverty Bay Herald. 18 November 1911. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
  4. ↑ SULZBERGER, A.G (12 May 2009). "Is This Your Stop? Pull the Cord, Like Old Times". New York Times (New York). Retrieved May 9, 2015.
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