A bell in Oxford has been ringing since 1840, and nobody dares find out what powers it. Its dry piles have driven some 10 billion rings, and opening them would end one of the longest-running experiments ever.

1840

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The event

• The Oxford Electric Bell1840 · Oxford. In Oxford's Clarendon Laboratory a bell has been running on dry piles since 1840, ringing an estimated 10 billion times. You can't hear it through the glass, and no one knows exactly what the batteries contain, since nobody wants to open them.

19th century

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