It is a perfect technological solution for the depleting number of sextons (‘Kappiyar’) in churches, especially Catholic. A sexton need not be present in the church to ring the bell at regular intervals. This can now be done by just a phone call made from anywhere in the world. If that is not enough, the user sitting thousands of kilometres away can also hear the bell ringing.
This is a unique device invented by Felix Silvester, a parish member of the sovereign committee of Holy Family church, Chittoor, Kochi, and director of Madonna electronics.
His invention will be first used at his renovated parish to be inaugurated on Saturday. As part of the renovation, Felix decided to give it a technological edge. He developed the new technology, ‘Pulsator’, in two years.
Felix has applied for its patent as this is the first of its kind in the world. “The function of the bell is very simple. The bell will be attached to a GSM board. There will be a drive unit as well as a control unit at the bell. The drive unit will make the bell ring and the control unit will coordinate the number of times the bell is to be rung. The GSM board will be connected with the mobile and the password protected.
The parish priest from any part of the world can operate the bell by making a call. All he has to do is to log on to the board using the password and then press any button of the mobile for ringing the bell.
The user can also hear the sound of the bell through mobile. For this purpose dual-tone frequency signalling is used, Felix said.
“I worked for over two years in devising the system and spent about `20 lakh. This will be useful for the missionary activities in North India and Africa where a priest has to look after five to six churches. In the Catholic Church, the ringing of bell in the morning, afternoon and night is mandatory. So the priest can ring the bell even if he is out of station,” Felix said.
The cost of the device will be around `3 lakh.