Cleansing Bell

The cleansing bell is a large brass contraption, shaped like a cylinder with a conical top, used to sterilize medical equipment. The bell itself is welded and riveted together from several panels of brass, and fastened to a lever arm without which it would take multiple men to lift. A brass pipe protrudes from the top of the bell and up through the ceiling where it comes out through the building's flat roof. When lowered, it sits on a bed of several layers of thick leather that provide a seal to prevent hot air from leaking out. When in operation, a stack of water-filled trays sits inside the bell, and it is heated by a coal-fired furnace with bellows. To reduce the heat in the room itself, the mouth of this furnace is integrated into the outer wall of the building, and operated from the outside, with an awning to protect the fire from the elements.
The top of the brass pipe is plugged with a conical plug attached to a lever arm whose other end sticks out past the edge of the building on the same side as the furnace heating the bell, with a rope coming off the end of the lever arm. At the end of a cycle of operation, the operator will snuff out the fire and pull the associated rope to release the hot air and steam in order to let the bell cool faster. The bell room also has shuttered air channels at floor height that will be opened at this time to allow cooler air into the room. A modification currently being perfected on one of the three bells in use also features ceiling hatches onto the roof from the bell room, designed to open with a pull of the same rope as the pipe valve. Each bell has its own tiny room, with double walls between them as well as isolating them from the antechamber in order to prevent excessive heat transfer.

Development

One of the disadvantages of shunning magic altogether that have been felt in the White City since it erected its Walls has been the lack of magical healing. Certain complications seemed to be more common and have less favorable outcomes in the absence of access to magical aid, even with primarily mundane treatment methods. While microorganisms such as viruses and bacteria are not strictly known, over time it was noted among doctors and surgeons that individuals treated with freshly, thoroughly cleaned instruments tend to get fewer and less severe infections, and thus see a better outcome, than patients who saw treatment using instruments that at best received a cursory rinse to remove visible surface soiling. That hot water cleans better than cold water was already something known to anyone who had ever scrubbed a pot or washed clothing. The hypothesis was put forward that the hotter the water, the better, and that thought saw the birth of the cleansing bell. After the initial prototyping, some of the improvements made were more lucky accidents than anything. The bell leaking steam into the room where it was kept was leaving condensation on the walls, so a leather seal was added to keep the steam in, with no one realizing that this would increase pressure inside the bell and make it more effective. The valve at the top of the steam pipe has turned into a safety feature in a similarly accidental way; while a plug that could be removed from a distance when time came to cool the bell off was desired, should pressure inside the system get too high, it will also act as an overpressure valve and release excess steam, preventing a likely catastrophic explosion.

Access & Availability

There is a single set of three cleansing bells currently in use, located in a stone extension to the White City's major House of Healing. Over the course of the day physicians' assistants will, after rinsing them, drop used instruments into specially-made trays of water set out in the extension's antechamber. An operator places these into the bell seating as they are filled, and will fire up one of the three bells bell once a day, cycling between them. Cleaned instruments are left on small brass trays on a dedicated shelf in the antechamber, on which they will be retrieved by physicians' assistants as they are needed.
Any time someone receives care that involves cutting into or piercing the skin at the House of Healing, the instruments should have come straight from the trays of clean instruments in the cleansing bell antechamber. In practice, this may not always be the case, but the installation of this invention has still decreased the serious post-treatment infections suffered by patients drastically.