"EOT Sound effects. Left
button for Play...Right to Stop"
SLOWBELL Defined
The picture depicts a segment of a ship's Engine Order Telegraph
with the "order" set on slow ahead, or in other words showing a
"slowbell". Engine orders are called "bells", a carry over from
the days when actual bells were struck. The "code" used was
simple...basically the bell, or gong struck once ( one bell )
for ahead or stop ( from either direction ), and two bells for
astern. Example: From stopped to slow ahead - one bell. From
stopped to astern - two bells. To "hook 'er up", while in either
direction - a "jingle" on a small bell. To go from "hooked up"
astern to "hooked up" ahead - one bell to slow down, one to
stop, one for ahead, and a jingle to "hook 'er up"...three bells
in all, and a jingle. The term "Take 'er on a slow bell", taken
from above, means essentially: "Take it easy".
Alright...now you've got that...pretty simple. However, the days of striking bells are long gone, the Engine Order Telegraph coming into being. Today though, even EOTs have bit the dust...most ships today controlling the engines directly from the Bridge - Bridge Control...and automatic Bell Logging...the computer handling all that.
However to bring you up to speed on another aspect of all this "bell" stuph, during the EOT days someone, usually the Third Mate, had to record each "order", and it was recorded in the Ship's Bell Book.
Here's a simple sample I drew up using "Paint" just to show you how it looked, and what the symbols for different "bells" - "orders" were.
The above shows a page out of the SHIP'S Bell Book...usually a pamphlet type book ( soft cover ). Now you have a picture of the symbols for each "bell", or "engine order", and know what a Bell Book ( no candles please ) is.
Now we are going to ping on the Slow Ahead symbol...the Slow Bell symbol used for SLOWBELL.
I made up an Icon...you see Icons splattered all over your Desk Top ( on your computer screen ). The symbol resembles a Check Mark...you see them every day. Now when you see, or use a Check Mark you will think of the SLOWBELL Icon symbol.
If you're one who likes to diddle with your machine...and keep Favorites as Shortcuts on your Desk Top, and if you enjoy this site, you can Right Click on the underlined text immediately above, and save it to your "Junk" file, where you'll know where it is.
Then you can go to the bottom of this page and click on the large "Home" button. When that loads, you can Click on Favorites at the top of your Browser, and Save it as a Favorite.
Minimize the screen, Click on Favorites, and at the very bottom of the list is what you just saved. Place the mouse cursor on that, and drag it on to the Desk Top, and release. There you will see the new "Shortcut"...it will have a generic icon...probably a blue "e".
Right Click on that icon, then Click Properties, then Click on "Change Icons", then "Browse", and go find the new icon, Open, Click "Apply", then "OK, and you have it...isn't that neat!
Bye for now...Take it easy...or like we say: "Take It On A Slowbell".
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