{"id":27623,"date":"2020-01-15T16:50:18","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=27623"},"modified":"2020-01-15T16:50:33","modified_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:50:33","slug":"sinclair-rings-in-a-new-semester-the-mystery-of-sinclairs-bell-tower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/campus-life\/2020\/01\/15\/sinclair-rings-in-a-new-semester-the-mystery-of-sinclairs-bell-tower\/","title":{"rendered":"Sinclair Rings In a New Semester: The Mystery of Sinclair\u2019s Bell Tower"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 1973, the bell tower of Sinclair Community College<\/a> has stood proud over campus in Dayton, Ohio. It was originally dedicated by the Sinclair Alumni one year after the Dayton campus was built in 1972, however it didn\u2019t always chime on the quarter-hour the way it does today. There was a time when the bell tower served a different purpose which it still actively serves to this day. A purpose many students may be unaware of.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tUpon construction, the tower was originally designed as a smokestack to safely expel the exhaust from Sinclair\u2019s boiler system. It essentially acts as a chimney so to speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to have a way of exhausting the boilers at the time.\u201d HVAC Systems Technician Adam Williford said, \u201cthe bell tower was actually designed to be a smokestack, not a bell tower per say.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite popular belief, there actually is no true bell in the bell tower of Sinclair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not actually bells up there, there\u2019s a sound produced from a Microsoft tablet and an amplifier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Williford himself was there when the most recent speakers were mounted at the top of the tower, which is roughly 100 ft from top to bottom. For years, squirrels have scaled the tower and gnawed at the wiring connected to the speakers. Williford\u2019s team took extra precautions when installing the latest speaker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we put this system in some years ago, and those other guys went up to the top, I was sure to inclose all the wire inside sealed tight and weather-proofed enclosures so no weather nor animals could get to anything,\u201d Williford said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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