Patent CA-2920304-A1 (CA)
Inventor: TORTORICI MARCO
IPC: G10K5/00
Filed: 2016-02-09
Abstract: TECHNICAL FIELD The fallowing invention refers to the construction of a flexible pea-less whistle. The purpose of making the whistle flexible is to greatly increase its' ability to absorb shock and to become more comfortable to use. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Whistles are devices design to make a specific noise or tone when the operator blows air into the mouth piece that they have stored in their lungs. These whistles create sound when air passes through specifically designed chambers that release air in such a way that a resonating air pressure wave is emitted and interpreted as sound. The design and shape of the chambers can vary from different manufacturers of whistles but typically the construction style is one of two categories. The first category is pea-style whistles, which contain some sort of ball that freely bounces around as air passes through. The second is pea-less, which means the sound emitted is determined by the shape of the air exit orifice and by the chambers themselves. Pea-less whistles do not contain any sort of internal moving part.  Typically it was believed that the best way of constructing these whistles was out of hard, non-flexible materials. These materials include different types of metals, wood and more recently non-flexible plastics. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), Polycarbonate (PC) and High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) are currently the most popular types of plastic used in the industry. As for metals, chrome plated brass and titanium are among the most common. All of these materials are designed to be as ridged as possible not only to increase durability of the device but also to maintain a high quality level of sound. The reason why durability is important is that consumers who typically purchase these devices will use them in a wide variety of outdoor and indoor environments. Thusly manufacturers have tried to create the most durable whistle possible in order to adapt to as many different types of environments as possible. A  whistle is considered broken when the operator blows air into the chambers and the sound emitted is not the one specified from the factory. The most common reason for this change in sound is when one of the air chambers within the whistle develops a leak formed by a crack or separation, allowing the air blown into the chamber to escape unintentionally before leaving the designed orifice.  The sound level performance of a whistle is typically measured in Decibels to determine loudness and in Hertz to measure frequency. A typical whistle used for sports and sporting events will create a maximum sound of 120 decibels. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS For a more complete understanding of this disclosure and its features, reference is now made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of the assembled device. (1) Air inlet (2) Bite area (3) Air outlet (4) Hot stamp lines (5) Key ring area (6) Expanding section FIG. 2 is a disassembled view showing the interior pea-less chamber shapes. FIG. 3 is a view of the device on a key ring. FIG. 4 is a view of the device being blown by the user. FIG. 5 is a view of the device on a disposable drink container. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The problem with current whistle construction techniques is that the use of hard materials for the construction of the sound chambers limits the physical properties of how much force the device can take. Hard materials by their nature cannot absorb forces like flexible materials and when put under physical load have the potential to crack or separate.  Plastic whistles typically are more likely to crack because of the techniques used to join the plastic components together. The most commonly used technique is sonic welding which is the act of using sound to melt a thin line of plastic to join two or more components together. This joint when put under physical load can easily crack or separate because of its brittle nature. The new invention disclosed is an improvement to the construction techniques of pea-less whistles.  New invention is a new design of a whistle chamber assembly which creates the ability for the components to be assembled by hot stamping. The result of this new design means that components that were once made of hard materials such as metal, wood or plastic can now be made of flexible materials such as different types of rubber. The new whistle contains an air inlet (1) located inside the bite area (2) directly in front of the air outlet (3). On the top surface the hot stamp lines (4) will be visible because of the mark left by the tool required to join the two components. At the rear of the whistle a key ring area (5) has been integrated into one of the components and because now all of the components are flexible two U-shaped cut outs (6) can allow the key ring area to expand and fit over different sized objects. By changing the physical properties of the materials used, the new whistle is now much more resistant to physical forces without having the sound chambers crack or separate. Crushing and twisting forces are now absorbed by the material and thusly the chances of the whistle becoming broken are greatly reduced. In order to utilize the hot stamping technique the sound chambers have been laid out side by side (FIG. 2) so that both chambers can be simultaneously sealed with a single stamping operation. Another improvement is the comfort and ease of use gained by using soft materials. The bite area (2) is much more comfortable to use without putting strain on the users teeth when they bite down to operate the device (FIG. 4).  Unlike hard material whistles the operator can apply more bite force without the risk of cracking the whistle. The key ring area (5) is built into one of the two pieces and the expanding section (6) allow the user the flexibility of either putting the whistle on a set of keys (FIG. 3) or using the keyring to mount the whistle to the neck of a bottle(FIG. 5). The culmination of all of these features mention above means that the new disclosed whistle can adapt to many more different types of demanding environments and situations with greater durability and comfort in operation. The new invention can be used as a more durable survival whistle, it can be used when going on a recreational walk or hiking it can also be carried at all times to be used in an emergency to signal for help. Also the rubber construction means that no finish or coating needs to be applied to the exterior to prevent corrosion unlike metal whistles. That also means there is no coating to ware off over the years of use.