Whistle

[Paolo]

Hello All ...I'm again here searching help. My steam engine have a boiler...but boiler need some pressure gauge and...Whistle....Does someone knows where is possible download a nice drawing of a small whistle?
TY in advance.
Paolo

 

[Oldmechthings]

Paolo
I don't know if it will be much help, but I have built a number of small whistles using a brass cartridge case from a high power rifle. For a tiny model they have a rather nice sound. A construction article on building a Steam Roller was sent in to Live Steam Magazine that was fitted with one of these whistles. Page 57 of the March/April 2003 issue shows a picture of the whistle, and on page 62 of the May/June 2003 issue is the drawing to build it.
I'd scan and post it for you, but my past experience posting drawings is that they come up like so much blurry fuzz. Perhaps someone that is more adapt at these #**#*# computers could do it for you.
Birk

 

[shred]

I ran across this the other day: http://www.fonema.se/whistle/hotwhiz.html
Those are quite large and very loud. Whistles can be tricky to scale down.

 

[Paolo]

Thanks a lot for your help...I'll let you know my progress...

 

[SignalFailure]

Paolo - they don't come much easier than this...

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.burchell/AGR/whistle.html

 

[tel]

LBSC's Shop, Shed and Road has a good section on whistle making - if all else fails (and I can find the book) I could probably scan that for you

 

[raym 11]

from an earlier posting,

Old mechanicalthings;

I made a replica 1" Lunkenheimer whistle from Guy Lutards drawing in a "bedside Reader" He made the drawings by taking the dimensions off of a 'real' one.

Some winter a few years ago I fitted it to the exhaust if my first i.c. engine with a home made drum valve upstream to allow for free flow or exhaust thru the whistle. I really like the adjustable ''chirp' when it fires. Most ordinary folks don't like the sound.

A publication named 'The Engines Moan' by Ed Fagen has lots of design criteria that might help in scaling down. In any event, it's darn good reading although a little pricey.

Ray M~~~~~~~~~~

 

[tattoomike68]

I have made a few whistles from wood, nothing pretty but they made noise. very easy to make. I even used a piece of aluminum tent tube and made one.

A 4 note.

 

[Paolo]

TY all....I'll let you know......nice to work with wooden...

 

[compound driver 2]

Hi
I made a scale whistle for my 1 inch to the foot traction engine. Tuning the bell is the most difficult part and depends on how close you can machine the wall thickness as wellas the volume in the bell.

I kept the wall thickness to 5 thou on all the test bells and settled for a wall of 4 thou on the last one that went on the engine. The sound is a bit high pitch but not as bad as some I have heard.

The mouth of the whistle on my first ones were square but on the later ones I opted for a rounded opening slightly longer than common wisdom would dictate. One of the really hard parts was making a ball valve that would seal and seal every time. The ball in the valve had to be 1/32 inch with a slightly smaller stainles steel spring behind it. Even now the opening for the push rod lets some steam escape when cold but as soon as the boiler heats the whistle up the steam stops pissing out.

Heres a picture of the whistle parts and the finished whistle before polishing. the coin is .800 inch diameter.

Cheers Kevin

 

[Powder keg]

Great looking whistles Kevin and Mike. I have the plans for a Model steam Calliope that I really want to build. Maybe I can post the article here. I don't remember where I got it though?

Wes

 

[raym 11]

Kevin;

I like that valve. Think I'll make one for my chime whistle.

1" Lunkenheimer model made in 4 parts . The narrow annular slot is created by the difference in OD & ID of two parts

 

[Paolo]

Kevin is a nice realization....I'm trying to made a drawing with your references..I'll show you!! TY

 

[kellswaterri]

Hi All,
trying to obtain plans for a model size steam whistle of the American railway, the sound I can only describe as the ''WAA...WAA'' kind. I have done a few searches but so far found nothing of substance, I would appreciate any information on the subject.
All the best for now,
John.

 

[raym 11]

John;

Check out post # 6 on this thread.
A publication named 'The Engines Moan' by Ed Fagen has lots of design criteria that might help in scaling down. In any event, it's darn good reading although a little pricey.

I've seen them for sale at shows. I think some charts might scale down to what you are looking for. If anything, you can learn what to call the whistle in question. ;D

btw it is published by Astrogel Press if that is any help.
Ray M

 

[ChooChooMike]

You generally can find The Engine's Moan book on eBay. There's a couple there right now, here one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/The-Engines-Moan-History-American-Steam-Whistles-Book_W0QQitemZ350025680180QQihZ022QQcategoryZ95164QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem"]Engine's Moan book on eBay[/url]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1931626014/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 link[/url]

I forget where I picked up my copy, either eBay or Amazon. It's a great book for reference info & history of steam whistles

Description :

from The Engine’s Moan

“. . .by turns a wailing banshee, a demonic shriek, a song of bewitchment, the spur to wanderlust, the voice of loneliness, the echo of solitude, the harbinger of grief, parting and loss. . .[the steam whistle] also signals the prospect of adventures yet to be tasted enterprises yet to be undertaken. . .”

Here, Ed Fagen, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on steam whistles, has provided us with a broadly researched, eloquently written and marvelously witty book, the first and only one on the subject. It includes comprehensive, illustrated chapters on:

the history of the steam whistle, the voice of the Industrial Revolution, and how it developed

the various uses of steam whistles on locomotives, ships, factories, firehouse roofs, circuses

the broad range of whistle manufacturers, their histories and their product lines (including how to identify and date whistles, as well as an extensive discussion on the relative rarityof whistle types)

how to acquire, organize, and preserve a whistle collection

how to repair and restore steam whistles

how to blow steam whistles on steam or compressed air

how a steam whistle actually works – a point that remains somewhat controversial even today.

Also included are an illustrated glossary of whistle terms, an illustrated review of the major whistle-related U.S. design patents, and a comprehensive index.

A joy to read, this book is a true “must have” for the railfan, collector, curator, historian of science, industrial archeologist, and anyone for whom the sound of this icon of connotative richness has ever beckoned to adventures that live in the imagination.

About the Author
Edward Fagen is a retired professor of electrical engineering. Although trained in solid state physics, he has lifelong avocational interests in steam locomotives, sound reproduction, and classical music. The publisher of Horn & Whistle, the quarterly journal of the Horn & Whistle Enthusiasts Group, he lives in Middlebury, Vermont, in a solar house of his own design, and blows a few whistles now and then.

 

[raym 11]

...and if you are serious about whistles you can subscribe to 'Horn & Whistle' magazine.

Ray M

 

[kellswaterri]

Hi Ray M and Mike,
thank you for that information, I will now try and obtain a copy of this booklet that you spoke of. The idea is to scale down a particular sound of whistle to suit a model steam plant I am building.The boiler driving the plant has an output of 65 lbs/ '' pressure. I would guess that being a musical instrument, the very act of down sizing it may alter the original tone to a much higher and sharper pitch?
All the best for now,
John.

 

[Steam4ian]

G'day all.
Some of the discussion regarding whistles surprises me. ??? I trust you can remember school boy physics. The pitch of a whistle is inversely proportional to the length. You reduce the length and thus increase the pitch. A whistle 1/8 scale (11/2" to the foot) will have a pitch 8 times higher than the prototype, that is 3 octaves higher.
On models there are length restraints so it is almost impossible to get a whistle long enough for a prototype pitch. The alternative is a Helmholtz resonator which is a box like chamber with a controlled opening, same physics as a bass reflex speaker box. LBSC has a design in "Shop, Shed and Road".

Toots to all,
Ian

 

[compound driver 2]

Hi
I think youl find thats why locos in the 3.5 inch to 7 1/4 inch gauges tend to have over scale whistles hidden under the cab or between the frames.
On a 1 inch to the foot traction engine its not possible to have this luxury so some degree of compromise is called for.
THe whistle I made for the 1 inch traction engine does not sound scale nor was it intended too. Hopw ever the not is a long way from a high pitch thanks to the design of the pipe and the pressure the steam is at when it hits the mouth. As the whistle valve is opened around 50% of the steam is bled off through a small hole in the side of the whistle tube. A lower pressure tends to give a slightly nicer not.

Cheers Kevin