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Biography
other usesmultiple issues| lead too short=October 2011| refimprove=March 2011| original research=March 2011A whistle or call is a simple aerophone , an musical instrument|instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means. Whistles vary in size from a small slide whistle or nose flute type to a large multi-piped Organ (music)|church organ .
History
The whistle has its roots dating back to ancient China, where night watchmen would blow into the tops of acorns to alert the towns to invading Mongolians.Citation needed|date=March 2008 In ancient Egypt two blades of the papyrus plant along the Nile river were held together in between the palms. By blowing into the palms the papyrus leaves would make a loud vibrant sound.Citation needed|date=January 2009
Types of whistle
Many types exist, small mouth blown whistles for various functions from toys to hunting using bird and fowl calls type whistles, to professional whistles as police, boatswain's pipe , military, sports whistles (also called pea whistle s), to much larger steam or air preasure operated ones as train whistle s, which are steam whistle s specifically designed for use on locomotive s and ships. Although almost all whistles have some musical character, common whistles are not usually considered musical instrument s, since they cannot play a melody, unless used as a – very shrill and loud – noise and rhythm instrument. However, musical whistles exist, including various 2- octave musical instruments known as tin whistle s (sometimes called pennywhistles or low whistles), as well as the calliope (music)|calliope (an array of separately actuable steam whistles), Organ (music)|organ pipes and the recorder . Pea whistles are used in jazz and Latin music for rhythm, much as a percussion instrument is; children often use them as a toy music instrument. There is also a more diverse type of whistle used for giving commands to sheepdogs at work, which can emit almost any tone the shepherd wishes, in order to signal different commands. This whistle is known as a shepherd's whistle.
Whistle physics
Main|Fipple The whistle works by causing the smooth flow of air to be split by a narrow blade, sometimes called a labium or windcutter, creating a turbulence|turbulent vortex which causes the air to vibrate. By attaching a Acoustic resonance|resonant chamber to the basic whistle, it may be tuned to a particular note and made louder. The length of the chamber typically defines the resonance frequency . A whistle may also contain a small light ball, usually called the pea , which rattles around inside, creating a Chaos theory|chaotic vibrato effect that intensifies the sound. Japanese people|Japanese bird whistle s use several small balls and are half filled with water in order to reproduce the sound of a bird song .
A steam whistle works the same way, but using steam as a source of pressure: such whistles can produce extremely high sound intensities.
Sometimes, unintentional whistles can be set up. A common one is the opened sunroof of a Automobile|car : air passing over the top of the vehicle can, at certain speeds, strike the back edge of the sunroof, creating a very low frequency whistle which is resonated by the closed interior of the car. Since the sound frequency is infrasonic , around 4 Hertz|Hz , the effect is very uncomfortable for occupants, who feel the vibration rather than hear it. Such low frequencies can induce nausea , headache , delirium|disorientation and dizziness . The effect can be prevented by opening a side window a few inches. Subsonic whistles have also been developed for use as non-lethal area-denial weapons for crowd control purposes, or to deliberately create a sense of uneasiness in an enemy. Citation needed|date=September 2007
Fields and usages
Police whistles
In England since the Metropolitan Police Service s inception in 1829, officers have been issued a whistle. Prior to this, police used hand rattles,Taylor, J. http://www.constabulary.com/mystery/rattle.htm "The Victorian Police Rattle Mystery" The Constabulary (2003) with whistles only being used as musical instruments or toys. Both rattles and whistles were used to call for back-up in areas where neighborhood beats overlapped, and following their success in London, the whistle was adopted by most Police Forces in Great Britain.
J Stevens & Son & J Dixon & sons made police whistles from around the 1840s, T Yates made Beaufort whistles for the Merseyside police|Liverpool Police in the 1870s. The 1880s and 1890s saw police whistles made by W Dowler & Sons , J Hudson & Co , J Barrall , R A Walton, H A Ward and A De Courcy & Co .
Police whistles fell into disuse in many countriesExamples|date=July 2011 in 1969, when early hand-held radios were brought into serviceCitation needed|date=July 2011. With the rise of the motor car, the whistle was no longer usefully audible in urban areasCitation needed|date=July 2011. The whistle is still used by some police forces todayExamples|date=July 2011, and engraved ceremonial versions are sometimes presented to police officers upon occasions such as their retirementCitation needed|date=July 2011.
The police whistle was used to great comic effect in the 1962 film http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056307/ On The Beat, where Norman Wisdom plays a car park attendant dreaming of wanting to become a policeman, like his dad.
Industrial whistles
Industrial whistles are used for Distress signal|signal ling and timekeeping both on railroad and ships, and in factories. Most of these whistles were steam power ed and not standardized. Individual locomotive s could be identified by their whistles. At noontime in industrial areas up into the 1950s whistles of every pitch could be heard, as each factory had a boiler and a whistle, if not full steam power.
Boats
Ships' whistles must be very loud for International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea#Part D - Sound and light signals|safety on the seas . Modern ships' whistles can be electrically or Steam whistle|steam driven. RMS|Queen Mary was originally equipped with three electric Tyfon whistles in 1932. They could be heard at least ten miles away and were tuned to 55& nbsp;Hz, a low bass A note that was chosen for maximum passenger comfort despite the high sound pressure level. http://www.sterling.rmplc.co.uk/visions/funnel2.jpg The Voice of the Queen Mary One of the three whistles was taken back to Kockum Sonics in Malmö , Sweden, where it was refurbished for a new life of service aboard the RMS Queen Mary 2|RMS Queen Mary 2 . Modern International Maritime Organization|IMO regulations specify ships' whistle frequencies to be in the range 70–200& nbsp;Hz for vessels that are over 200 metres in length. http://www.kockumsonics.com/products/marine/marine_tyfon_imo_regulations.htm Kockum Sonics: Tyfon product IMO regulations Traditionally, the lower the frequency, the larger the ship. The Queen Mary 2 , being 345 metres long, was given the lowest possible frequency (70& nbsp;Hz) for her regulation whistles which means she carries both 70& nbsp;Hz modern whistles and a single vintage 55& nbsp;Hz whistle.
Trains
Railroads in particular used elaborate whistle codes for communication both within the train and with other trains. These methods are maintained today with motor-powered Train horn|air horn s. Trucks also use air horns, especially since they often have air brakes and so there is already a source of compressed air on board.
Train whistle s generally produce three or four different frequencies at the same time to produce a non- major chord that is distinct, loud, and low in pitch.
Sporting
Whistles are used by referees, to officiate sporting matches. The whistle was first used to stop a sports match by William Atack in a game of Rugby football|rugby in New Zealand in 1884. Before that game, all referees simply used their voices to control the flow of play.
Some sports use different types of whistles, but one used around the world in many sports is the Fox 40 whistle. The Fox 40 whistle is a pealess whistle which creates sound using air pressure only. This whistle is used at basketball , field hockey , ice hockey , American football , association football|soccer football , water polo , and numerous other games, since it can be readily heard over the noise of the spectators and players.
Another whistle that is widely used for games such as touch football, rugby league and rugby union is called the "Thunderer 58.5", and it is made by the Acme Whistles company. This is a metal whistle containing a pea made out of cork. This one is primarily used because it makes a deep, low- Pitch (psychophysics)|pitch ed shrill that can sometimes be heard from hundreds of metres away.
Music
Infobox instrument| name = Whistle | names = | image = SambaWhistle.jpg | image_capt = A samba whistle with three tones | background = | classification = | hornbostel_sachs = | hornbostel_sachs_desc = | inventors = | developed = | range = | related = | musicians = | builders = | midi = Notes 71 (short/high whistle) and 72 (long/low whistle) (B and C) | articles = The whistle is used by a leader in batucada|samba percussion groups to help catch the percussionists' attention. The traditional samba whistle has three tones, but as the size of the percussion section rose, pealess whistles became more popular due to their high pitch and their loud sound.
The slide whistle (or swanee whistle) was a common instrument in some types of music,Which? |date=March 2009 including being used at times in early Jazz,Berrett, Joshua (2004). Louis Armstrong & Paul Whiteman: Two Kings of Jazz , p. 62. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10384-0. http://michaelminn.net/armstrong/index.php? section1 Louis Armstrong's discography: Early years - 1901 1925 and was popular as a musical effect in the early days of radio and television.
The tin whistle (or penny whistle) is a 6 holed instruments with two octave range that is also used to make music.
Pitch pipes are reed whistles used to help in tuning musical instruments and have been common since the 1850s.
During the 1990s, it was common for whistles to be employed by the audiences at rave s, allowing a level of interaction between the partygoer and the DJ . In fact, there were a series of raves during the late 1990s named "Whistle". Held at a nightclub named Shampoo in Philadelphia, the Whistle parties (raves) were held once annually, making each party a sequel to the one the year before.
Military
Whistles were used in various military engagements in the 20th century. They were used primarily to initiate a pre-set plan so that all parts (within earshot) would move simultaneously. For example, officers in the World War I|first world war would sometimes blow whistles to signal all troops along a broad stretch of trench to attack at the same time.
In the Canadian Navy, the so called Bosn' whistle or Boatswain's call is still in use for ceremonial purpose on board Royal Canadian Navy|RCN ships. It was used in the past to command order like carry on, soup time or colors ceremony.
Others
Other whistles include bird calls, game calls, shepherd's whistles, Swiss warblers, Chinese pigeon whistles, Chinese and Japanese kite whistles, cuckoo clocks whistles, communication tube whistles, whistling kettles, whistling tops and various toy whistles.
Patents and inventors
In 1868 Joseph Hudson (inventor)|Joseph Hudson of Birmingham , England, made the first whistle ever to be used by a football referee . New Zealand referee William Atack was the world's first to use a whistle to stop a game of sport in 1884. It was used for the first time (allegedly) at a game held at Nottingham Forest, prior to this referees used handkerchiefs to attract players' attention.
By 1884, Joseph Hudson had perfected his whistles and he released the world's most successful whistle to date, the "Acme Thunderer" (the first ever pea whistle). The whistle has been used as an alarm or attention-getting instrument by all manner of industries, sports and revellers. It continues to sell in great quantities throughout the world.
References
reflist
External links
External links|date=March 2011
http://www.sccheadquarters.com/UserData/root/Files/Training/Proficiencies/Piping/Boatswains%20Call%20Handbook.pdf The Botswain's Call handbook The Marine Society & Sea Cadets
http://whistlemuseum.com/2009/04/02/a-note-about-collecting-whistles-themes--a-personnal-note-.aspx/ Police or Fire Whistles
http://whistlemuseum.com/2009/06/06/0reilly-v-benjamin-harris-co-inc-american-cylinderical-whistles-discussed-in-federal-court-1918--a-strauss.aspx World War I American Police whistles discussed in federal court
http://whistlemuseum.com/2009/02/27/usa--american-whistle-manufacturers-makers--history-.aspx American Whistle Manufacturers by Avner Strauss
