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South-Western
Rings in 100 Years with Bell
To
commemorate our 100 years in business, South-Western is working
with the Verdin Company to cast its own centennial bell. This significant
event will take place on-site at South-Western's Mason, Ohio location.
Using Verdin's Foundry on Wheels, the ceremony will begin as South-Western
employees pass ten ingots, or bars of bronze, into the foundry furnace.
Each of the ingots will signify contributing elements to our 100
years of success. To view this event live, join our Real Media broadcast
on February 26th at 10:30am.
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Join
the Live Webcast
Date:
Wednesday,
February 26, 2003
Time:
10:30-11:30
AM (Eastern Standard
Time)
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Check
back to view the recorded video files.
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If you miss
this exciting event, the recorded version will be available here
within a few days.
The Bell
Casting Process
FEBRUARY
26
Verdin’s
Mobile Foundry located in our parking lot, contains the mold for
South-Western’s bell, and the furnace is already lined with
most of the 500 pounds of bronze ingots that will become the bell.
Verdin's Mobile Foundry |
At 10:30 a.m.,
the remaining ingots are loaded by the South-Western contest winners
into the cold furnace during the ingot presentation ceremony.
The furnace
is then turned on and heated to reach 2200° F. It takes two
to three hours to turn the metal into molten liquid.
At 2:30, during
the bell-casting ceremony, the temperature climbs during the final
seconds of the melting process. Once the bronze has reached the
proper temperature, the next step must happen immediately. The molten
bronze is poured from the furnace into a ladle carried on an overhead
crane. The ladle is then emptied into the custom-made bell mold.
Inside the mold, the bell will cool and harden overnight.
FEBRUARY
27
The “Breaking
of the Mold Ceremony” will occur at 10:30 a.m. The mold is broken with
a large sledgehammer, exposing the centennial bell. At that point,
the bell is in its roughest form.
The bell then
must be sandblasted to clean and smooth the surface. Verdin will
remain on site for about an hour cleaning the bell, after which
time they will take the bell back to the factory for polishing
for presentation at a later date.
The polished
bell will be placed in a mini-tower outside the corporate headquarters
in the Summer.
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