Bell pull

Quality 0.50 · 2 views · Updated 2 months ago

title: "Bell pull" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["ropework"] topic_path: "general/ropework" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_pull" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Company-Shocked-Gillray.jpeg" caption="In ''Company shocked at a Lady getting up to Ring the Bell'' (1805), [[James Gillray]] caricatured suitors eager to save a lady the effort of using a bell pull."] ::

A bell pull is a woven textile, pull cord, handle, knob, or other object that connects with a bell or bell wire, and which rings a service bell when pulled. Bell pulls may be used to summon workers in homes of people who employ butlers, housemaids, nannies or other domestic workers, and often have a tassel at the bottom. The bell pull is one element of a complex interior mechanical network which, in Victorian times, typically involved a range of bell pulls in different rooms, connected to a central bank of labelled bells in a room where servants would wait to be summoned.

Central bell panel

In the 19th century, some hotels also had a panel with a bell for each room, as part of a centralized bell system.

Transport

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/BEST-Bell-Pull.jpg" caption="A bell pull and bell in a bus in [[Mumbai]], [[India]]."] ::

A bell pull is used in some forms of public transport, mostly buses, for passengers to signal to a driver to halt at a particular bus stop.

References

References

  1. (2 September 1894). "Englishmen's Dining Rooms". New York Times.
  2. (February 2004). "Marietta". Arcadia Publishing.
  3. (18 November 1911). "New London Millinery". Poverty Bay Herald.
  4. SULZBERGER, A.G. (12 May 2009). "Is This Your Stop? Pull the Cord, Like Old Times". [[The New York Times]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::

ropework