I’d never given much thought to how a doorbell works. And then today I took one apart.
We had 2, you see, and one was in the way of a picture that we wanted to hang. (The size of the house really didn’t warrant a second bell anyway.)
Turns out there is really a bell in there. Well, more of a chime, really. Ours had 2. One that corresponded to the ding, and one that corresponded to the dong.
The bell/chime is a rectangular piece of metal. When someone pushes the doorbell button outside, a little hammer hits the chime. Elegant, yet simple. I like it.
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The Doorbell Wiki is worth a glance. It shows a picture of an original doorbell (a bell you’d hang on a door) and what looks like an MS Paint drawing of a doorbell schematic. Also, it shows something I’ve never seen before… a doorbell for the front and back door!
#1) that is totally MS Paint.
#2) the doorbell we removed has a spot for a back door doorbell.
#3) checked out new doorbells at the HD this weekend. As I expected, in the time between 2000 (when the house was built) and 2009 there have been major doorbell advancements. Most are wireless now. Also, most digitally create a bell sound and just have speakers inside. One played up to 64 different tunes in a rather obnoxious fashion. (You know, in case you wanted your doorbell to play “Dixieland” or “We wish you a Merry x-mas.”) Only one model had a hammer and chimes inside.
#4) Addition to my original post- instead of bells or chimes, think the things you hit on a xylophone. It’s like 2 pieces of a xylophone hooked up to a little hammer.
Please tell me you bought the Dixieland Doorbell.
Alas, no. It was really expensive. I’m unemployed, you know.