Shank & Rivet Bells

Home > Learn more > Sleigh bell designs > Shank & rivet bells

Shank-style bells
Rivet-style bells

How does one attach a sleigh bell to a strap? Most North American bell makers in the 1800s used two types of fasteners: bell pins and rivets. Bells attached with a bell pin have a "shank" base. Bells attached with a rivet have a hole in the base.

Shank-style bells

"Shank bells" are usually attached to their strap with bell pins made from heavy wire. A shank is the tab of metal that sticks out of the bottom of the bell. This shank has a hole cast or drilled through it.

The older method of making the hole in the shank is to cast it in place. This approach was used by most sleigh bell makers in England and North America and is still in use today. Makers in New Britain, Connecticut, took a different approach by drilling the hole in the shank after the bell was cast. (2)

To mount a shank-style bell onto a leather strap, the shank is put through an oblong hole cut into the strap. A hand-made metal pin bent in a "figure 8" shape is inserted through the hole in the shank and twisted shut. This locks the bell onto its strap.

Some sleigh bells from the late 1700s and very early 1800s have unusually large shanks with large rectangular holes. These bells were fastened onto a strap with a single, long leather lace running the length of the main bell strap.

If the pins and shanks are exposed on the inside of the bell strap, they can irritate the horse, damage valuable harness, and scratch the wooden shafts of the vehicle. To protect the horse, harness and shafts, a plain lining strap is often attached to the inside of the main bell strap. The lining is usually held in place by metal rivets, stitching, or leather keepers.

A "dead giveaway" of a poorly-reconstructed bell strap is the use of cotter keys to pin the bells on their strap. Cotter keys were never used on a bell straps meant for horses to wear. If a smooth "figure 8" pin can pinch and irritate, imagine what the sharp point of a cotter key could do to a poor horse!

Old bell with a U-shaped shank. Up to the mid 1800s, most sleigh bells had this type of shank.

Old bell with a drilled shank. In the mid to late 1800s and early 1900s, the shank on many bells was cast as a solid tab. The hole was later drilled through.

Rivet-style bells

The shank style bell with its hand-made bell pin was a material and labor intensive item to produce. In the mid 1850s, manufacturers began redesigning sleigh bells so they could be attached to straps using factory-made staples, clips, screws, or rivets. (3)

Only ten years later, sleigh bells fastened with rivets had become widely accepted. (4) The compact, sleek rivet fastener allowed designers to create many unusual sleigh bell styles. The use of rivets or screws also eliminated the need for a protective liner strap, so bell straps became lighter and simpler -- thus cheaper -- to produce.

The switch to rivet fasteners was not complete, however. Many foundries produced the traditional shank-style bells as well as the new-fangled rivet-style designs. And at least one foundry fastened their bells with small screws rather than rivets. (5)

A rivet-style bell has no protruding shank. Instead, it has a hole drilled or stamped through its base for the rivet. The smooth, flat heads of the rivets or screws on the inside of a bell strap are less likely to irritate or cause damage and do not require a protective liner.

Two to four small pins or prongs usually surround the rivet hole on the base of the bell. These pins bite into the leather to keep the bell from rotating when the bell is fastened onto a strap.

Even though the bases of shank- and rivet-style bells are different, the bell designs can look otherwise identical. For example, round ridge and petal bells can be found in both styles.

Sometimes rivet-style bells are attached to their strap with aluminum POP® rivets. Blind rivets were first patented in 1916, and POP® rivets (a trademarked product of Emhart Teknologies) were widely used in the British aircraft industry during World War II.

POP® rivets were not commercially available in the U.S. for general use until the 1950s, however. (1) Any American-made bell strap with these rivets can be no older than that.

Left: Bell strap with shank-style bells. Slots are cut into the strap for each bell. The shank of a bell is pushed through its slot and is fastened with a figure-8 bell pin.

Right: Bell strap with rivet-style bells. The dot on the strap is the smooth, flat head of a rivet. The bell is hiding under the strap in this view.

Machine-stamped brass bell with a rivet base. The two prongs on either side of the rivet hole bite into the leather strap to keep the bell from rotating.