Signal bell

Funke & Huster's signal bell was used in the Ewald Colliery in Herten (Germany, North Rhine-Westphalia) in the 1980s.
Since 1990 it has been located in the shaft house of the LWL-Industrial Museum Zollern Colliery.
The electric signal bell serves as a means of acoustic communication among the shaft- operations personnel at the surface and underground as well as the hoisting operator.
They use notification and execution signals to coordinate the mining procedures. For example, the signal “stop” (in Germany) is a single bell-ring. Two rings are the signal for “up” and three rings are the signal to “hang”. When “stop” is rung, the cage is halted. “Up” signals that the cage is to be pulled up and “hang” signals downwards-hoisting or hooking in.
Signals are activated trough a pull switch. The acoustic signal is generated with a single-stroke bell equipped with a clapper, which strikes the bell, when a current flows.

Sound recordist: Konrad Gutkowski/Julian Blaschke
Photographer: Konrad Gutkowski/Julian Blaschke
Video recordist: Konrad Gutkowski/Julian Blaschke