Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1905-08-19
MODERN WHISTLES.
MANY BLOWN BY COMPRESSED
AIR NOW USED.
They Are in Great Demand on We
hicles and Boats Driven by
Other Than Steam
Power.


in some localities" said the repre-.
sentative of a whistle manufacturer.
they now use on surface cars, in place
OF the gong, air whistles blown by
compressed air pumped into q tank
carried on the car. The whistles used
on the cars Of the subway and elevated
roads in this city are air whistles,
blown by compressed air in this man.
ner.
The air whistle is similar in de-
sign and appearance to the steam whis-
tie, but different in some details of its
construction and in the adjustment Of
its parts, to aaapt it to the use of air
instead of steam.
q many power boats, not driven by
steam, there are now used air whis-
ties. These whistles are blown by
compressed air from a tank kept filed
by a pump operated with power from
that supplied for driving tie boat, or
by the boats machinery. But we sup
ply also %nowaday1 independent air
whistle equipments, consisting of tank,
whistle, pump and gauge, the pump of
which can be operated by hand; aud
/ outfits are not costly.
We are now selling air whistles for
automobiles.
Steam whistles are now made Of
various kinds, and they are made, of
course, in many sizes, and they are
made also in various proportionate di-
mensions, to adapt them economically
to the various uses for which the whis-
ties are designed. Speaking Of steam
whistles in general, you want, to carry
sound a distance, a whistle with a bell
proportionately long to its diameter;
while for nearby warning not only will
a small whistle do, but a whistle with
O bell proportionately short.
$50 for a big steamship, requiring a
whistle that can be heard miles away,
you want not only a whistle of large
diameter, but one with a proportion
ately long bell, blown with plenty of
pressure; while, for instance. for a
steam fire engine running in city
streets. a small whistle with a proper
~tionately short bell, a whistle that can
he heard a few blocks away, will serve.
I'VE make now not only plain whis-
ties, but chime whistles, mockingbird
whistles, organ whistles and sirens.
A plain whistle will do for the great
steamship, and plain whistles, big and
little, are sold for use everywhere. But
we sell now great number of chime
Whistles for various uses.
The chime whistle has within its
bell not a single chamber, but three
chambers. the blended tons of which
produce not the old-time screech, but
a sound far more musical. Chime
Whistles are now extensively used on
locomotives, with results far less dis
turbing to the communities through
which the railroads run than were the
sounds of the locomotive whistles once
commonly used. Chime whistles cost
more than plain whistles, but the use
of them is generally spreading.
THE mockingbird whistle Is one
that is made by an arrangement of its
valves to produce not a single, but a
varying note.
THE organ whistle is made with an
opening in the bell like that l.. the side
of a church organ pipe, giving to the
whistle a somewhat organlike effect.
A great organ whsle might be set up
on a factory in a village for a fire
alarm; a sonorous whistle that could
be heard for three, four, five miles,
throughout the surrounding country.
There are people, | know, who don't
like the siren whistle, but it has its
uses and its advantages. A siren gives
a boat individuality, and we can iden-
tify any boat carrying one by the
sound of its whistle.
But are not all sirens alike in
sound? No, not ven in the same sizes.
You know you can build a dozen loco
motives from the same patterns and
the same stock of materials and no
two will steam and run exactly
alike. There will be difference enough
between them so that they can be dis
tinguished, at least by those familiar
with their sounds, when the whistles
are in use.
$50 you see that, quite apart from
the novelty of the Introduction and the
present widespread use of whistles
blown by compressed air, there has
been all sorts of whistles, in steam
blown as well as in air whistles. a
progress quite in keeping with the