Bell/Clock Tower Arrives
at RCC Asheboro Campus June 25

ASHEBORO, N.C.—A bell/clock tower became part of the landscape of Randolph Community College’s Asheboro Campus on Wednesday, June 25. The 40-foot millennium tower was placed in front of the new RCC Foundation Conference Center which will be open soon.

The tower consists of 12 vertical tubular steel legs with four cast bronze bells and a traditional illuminated canister clock beneath a copper roof and a weather vane. The bells were cast by the Petit and Fritsen Bell Foundry, the Royal Dutch Bell Founder, in Aarle-Rixtel, Holland. The bells are composed of pure copper and block tin and weigh from 150 lbs. to 550 lbs. The bell striker units are made of steel with the clapper balls cast in manganese bronze for maximum clarity and richness of tone. The units are custom designed to ring the stationary bells with the striker unit entirely housed within the bell it is to ring. The clapper is operated by a direct current electromagnetic system.

In addition to the traditional bells, RCC’s tower is equipped with a Singing Tower Carillon, an automatic music system in which the bell voices are exact reproductions of tuned cast bronze carillon bells. The music system can play any manner or style of music, from holiday music to “Pomp and Circumstance.”

The tower was manufactured by The Verdin Company of Cincinnati, Ohio. It was brought to RCC on a flat-bed truck and lifted into place with two cranes.

Clocks and carillons have long been an integral part of the college campus since the first carillon in the United States was installed at Notre Dame University in the mid-1800s.

The tower and conference center were funded through donations to the RCC Foundation. A dedication of the tower will be held at a later date.