The DOOR BELL idea came to me about 1AM one morning.  By 5 AM,  I worked out the basic design.  Took a week to get all the materials and build it and several months of refining the mechanics.  Pat likes it because you can hear it anywhere in the house.  When we recently sold our house in Carson City, the new owner didn't want the doorbell.  So now it is happily installed in our new house with a couple of mechanical and esthetic improvements.

You push a rod (A) on the outside of the house , causing the bellows (B) to close, which blows a siren whistle (C).  The arm (D) swings around hitting the bell (E).  Meanwhile the circles (F) on the bottom rotate in opposite directions.  The tennis ball (G) is a counterweight filled with gravel.  To hear the actual door bell, click here for a .wav file, or click here for an .au file (works better on Netscape browser.) If the screen goes blank, just hit the back button on your browser. (Haven't got this one completely worked out yet).

NFS