# Chime Whistle



## Oldmechthings (Jan 19, 2008)

Hey! Here it is Saturday again, and if you do not have a weekend project already planed, my I suggest a bellows operated four note chime whistle. They are pretty simple. Even a handy boy with simple hand tools could build one, although you may want to use your machine tools for some of the operations. They are simple to operate, even a 2 year old can do it, and most everyone enjoys pulling the cord. They are always ready, you do not have to wait for a head of steam. They have a pleasant tone that is not ear splitting loud, and by varying the pull of the cord you can produce different sounds. Like the wail of a distant freight locomotive, or a couple of quick toots signaling that you are ready to roll. I'll bet you could even teach it to do one of those sexy girl whistles, and you could do that one whenever your spouse was in the vicinity. Certainly that would chalk up a few points in your favor.







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Shown below is a construction sketch. For the whistles I used 3/4" electrical conduit and painted them brass color. It does not have to be conduit and it does not have to be 3/4", most any tubing will work. The plugs should be a snug fit and can be made from most any good solid material. I used aluminum, wood would work just as well. Someone asked once how I designed it to have such a pleasant tone. I could go into a lengthly technical discussion full of "bull" about designing and building organ pipes, but just between you and me, I simply cut one pipe each, 5,6,7, & 8 inches long and built it. Certainly other lengths would work as well. The key is to have each one different so you get the 4 tone chime effect.






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If you are any kind of a steam engine person, this should be a worthwhile addition to your array.
    Birk


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## shred (Jan 19, 2008)

Cool project. Can you post the sketch a little larger? It's all fuzzy on my screen.

Thanks


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## Kactiguy (Jan 19, 2008)

Birk, it looks like the resolution was too low. I posted my copy of the plans. My kids love "ringing" Birk's doorbell. Heck, I love it too.


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## BobWarfield (Jan 19, 2008)

Neat!

I've been wanting to build a whistel of some kind as a lathe project. Lunkmeyer whistles are cool too, and that's what I had been thinking. There's an article in Make magazine about building a multi-tone whistle on the newstands right now. The article shows whistles made of PVC, but since we're machinists (wannabe at least!), we can build out of whatever.

I wish someone would publish the formulas that determine the tones though. I'd like to be able to tune my whistles and even sequence them to play a little ditty.

Cheers,

BW


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## jagwinn (Jan 19, 2008)

Hello BobWarfield,

Well, someone has published the formulae on pipe organ dimensions. It is contained in the following monograph at this link:

http://www.mmdigest.com/Tech/pipesRecipe.html

Hope it will answer any question you have.


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## tattoomike68 (Jan 19, 2008)

Oldmechthings  said:
			
		

> Hey! Here it is Saturday again, and if you do not have a weekend project already planed, my I suggest a bellows operated four note chime whistle. They are pretty simple. Even a handy boy with simple hand tools could build one, although you may want to use your machine tools for some of the operations. They are simple to operate, even a 2 year old can do it, and most everyone enjoys pulling the cord. They are always ready, you do not have to wait for a head of steam. They have a pleasant tone that is not ear splitting loud, and by varying the pull of the cord you can produce different sounds. Like the wail of a distant freight locomotive, or a couple of quick toots signaling that you are ready to roll. I'll bet you could even teach it to do one of those sexy girl whistles, and you could do that one whenever your spouse was in the vicinity. Certainly that would chalk up a few points in your favor.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



thats nice, I made a few whistles when I first got my smithy. I even made a 4 note. I made all of mine from sticks I picked up in the yard. I also made some from old tent post tubing.


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## BobWarfield (Jan 19, 2008)

jagwinn  said:
			
		

> Hello BobWarfield,
> 
> Well, someone has published the formulae on pipe organ dimensions. It is contained in the following monograph at this link:
> 
> ...



John, thanks so much!

I deduce from your avatar and a post on model radials that you like R/C planes? Or perhaps you're into the full sized models? The mechanical music post was quite interesting too. I'll have to peruse that venue more. Makes me think of a thing I saw one time called an "Orchestrion".

Best,

BW


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## Powder keg (Jan 20, 2008)

Thanks for the drawing Birk, I still remember playing with that on our last visit. I'll have to make one one of these Saturdays:O)

Wes


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## raym 11 (Jan 31, 2008)

Oldmechanicalthings;

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.

I use this old Deppenbush to try new ideas, such as the sling weight governor, before butchering on a new engine.


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