photo of bevin brothers from the historic american engineering record type private founded east hampton connecticut usa 1832 headquarters east hampton connecticut usa key people matt bevin president website www.bevinbells.com bevin brothers manufacturing company also called bevin brothers is a family owned bell foundry located in east hampton connecticut . contents 1 history 2 notable bells 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit the company was founded by brothers william bevin chauncey bevin and abner bevin in 1832 . they were later joined by a fourth brother philo bevin . the business s website states it produced the first foot gong used in an automobile the bell was patented in 1897 . the foot gong is a bell that was beneath the floor of early automobiles and was rung by pressing it with your foot . it has since been replaced by the car horn . 1 2 through the years more than 30 companies have made bells in east hampton earning it the nickname of bell town . bevin brothers is the only remaining bell manufacturer in east hampton and still remains in the bevin family . 2 through the years it has made sleigh bells house bells cow bells sheep bells door bells and ship s bells . on may 27 2012 the factory was struck by lightning resulting in a devastating fire that razed the bevin brothers mill . in the wake of the fire bevin brothers future as a bellmaker was uncertain . 3 4 at the time of the fire the factory was reported to be the last company in the united states to solely produce bells . it had 19 employees and was reported to make 1.2 million bells in 200 varieties . notable bells edit all of the salvation army christmas bells 5 bell used to indicate the start and finish of the new york stock exchange trading 5 boxing champhionship bells 5 bell aboard the u.s.s. maine 5 bell used to signify an angel got its wings in the 1946 film it s a wonderful life 5 see also edit matt bevin references edit saddle bells shaft bells and foot gongs . classic bells . retrieved 2012 06 03 . a b about us bevin brothers east hampton ct . bevinbells.com . retrieved 2012 06 02 . associated the 2012 05 27 . major blaze destroys bevin bell factory building in east hampton video the middletown press serving middletown ct . the middletown press . retrieved 2012 06 02 . bartolotta michael 2012 05 27 . fire destroys bevin bell factory east hampton portland ct patch . easthampton ct.patch.com . retrieved 2012 06 02 . a b c d e a brief history of bevin bells wtnh.com connecticut . wtnh.com . retrieved 2012 06 03 . external links edit historic american engineering record haer no . ct 12 bevin brothers bell shops bevin court east hampton middlesex county ct 13 photos 3 data pages 1 photo caption page retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title bevin brothers manufacturing company & oldid 695692754 categories 1832 establishmentscompanies based in connecticuteast hampton connecticuthistoric american engineering record in connecticutbell foundries of the united stateshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 17 december 2015 at 22 03 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view