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Underconstruction
The First Two Notes Tube Whistle ( G.S.W )  With Partition Discovered  Stevens & Son . By A. Strauss ( Part I )

Stevens & Son at Darlington Works 1865 ,
Seated 3rd from left is James Stevens 1807 – 1881 Son of John Stevens the Founder 1779 -1861.

Preface
2016 was THE BEST  in many years ( for me )  in discovering fantastic ground breaking news about whistles , and information about Whistle Makers – Manufacturers,
Some really change all we knew and thought about whistle history , whistory.
While preparing long articles with serious news about unknown whistles and new historical facts , for this blog , I thought of sharing this , since I had some reasons to celebrate today so here is a taste of some of  the new findings about Stevens’s whistles and history.

The Invention of the partition or TUBULAR WHISTLE WITH A PARTITION
and two different lengtn chambers . belonging to Richard Porteous and made by J. Stevens & SonPrior to 1866 .
The FIRST KNOWN G.S.W – General Service Whistle , Or
T.N.T – Two Notes Tube Whistle or TNTW a term I prefer .
The Partition is a long rectangular metal sheet inserted within the tube of the whistle’s body; thus dividing the whistle into Two Chambers , then making  UNEVEN depth or length to each chamber by shortening the inside part of one chamber so it produces a higher pitch than the longer one .
This could be done by few drops of lead inside one of the chambers, or by making the inside part of the top uneven, or in later years by bending the partition 45 degrees at its end so it cuts one chamber shorter, so the whistle plays two notes of different frequency and pitch at the same time creating a dissonance which has a louder and more alarming sound than a single note.  Continue reading The First Two Notes Tube Whistle and The Invention of the Partition, Stevens & Sons . By A. Strauss

Bakelite Escargots with Metal side plate a comparative study, U.S.A made and England . A Strauss (At work to be cont.)
Bakelite escargots with a stamped metal plate insert to one side.
A.Strauss , Copyright © 2009. ( Under Reconstruction )
_
Bakelite* escargots with metal plate inserts at the side are all Glasgow type escargots made in
England and in the U.S.A ,
The side plate insert is applied to the right hand one side of the whistle
(N.S.Meyer N.Y is an exception, shows on the left side as well).

Used mainly by Sporting Goods & Arms companies as well as by British railway and Transportation companies, also by some police forces and colleges.

The big advantage of Bakelite made whistles was that in cold weather ( Sub zero) they would not get stuck to the lips or fingers as the metal ones. they were very sturdy when plastic was still of lesser strength than hard plastic types made later.

The metal inserts are of different designs which makes it possible to know where made.
The ones made in England are all made by J. Hudson & Co. , And are stamped Acmeoid. Made From 1926 to late 1940s , ( I had come across few rare ones that may had been made earlier).

Hudson

*Stamped in 2 ways
1) Early stamps ;
Below window ” The Acme Thunderer” , and Hudson Monogram on the underside of the whistle “Beak” – mouthpiece.
2) later models ;
“The Acme Thunderer made in England” and no monogram on the underside.
Note; All the whistles seen here are stamped the Acme Thunderer exept for the USA & Mexican made ones.

* Metal plates of few kinds but the circular ones with four pins have the pins pointing at north , east, south and west, or 12 O’clock 3, 6 and 9.

* Colors; Hudson made these in Black Brown Orange & white The last two colors are rare.

* The D & M one & the older Iver Johnson have a longer beak , about 3 mm longer similar to USA made ones and are not as wide, a different mold was used for these and it is certainly the earlier one, might even be earlier than 1926.

Because of way made the cup and the material   the whistles deviate by 1 mm up to 2 mm in measurements in same models. ( To be cont.)

American

* Smooth, no stamps on Bakelite .

* Size; American made ones are not as wide, But Longer.

* Do not have a circle pattern sunk, on the side opposite to the metal plate insert.

* A wider and thinner tooth grip on the lower lip.

* Color; Black or Brown.

* Metal plates are all of the circular with 4 pins pattern, inserted in a way that the pins show the hours of roughly 11 O’clock 1, 5 and 7 O’clock.

* Some have “Made in the U.S.A” stamped on the metal plate, (See Goldsmith # 12).

** Foot note
Barrel end is 28.50 mm and accurate on the USA samples I inspected.
L; is 61mm and varies by less than a mm.

In general The U.S.A. made ones seem to be much harder to find.

The metal plate inserts are all Aluminum or nickel silver.

Early Hudson’s Oval shape metal plate insert L; 60.81mm W; 22.55 mm Barrel Diameter,; 28.50 mm
This oval plate is the only one noted by the author. seems to be a very early one  pre 1926.

 

Above, Iver Johnson Later made by Hudson, L; 57;72 mm W; 23.09 mm Barrel Diameter ; 27.63 mm
Continue reading Bakelite Snail Shaped – Escargots Whistle Types with a Stamped Metal or Aluminum Plate Insert Side.

(At work ) The new information which surfaced on the web in the last two years brought MANY previously unknown facts and dates about whistle manufactures in Great Britain during the the 19th century , this new info changed the way many
Dates Myths and miss-concepts which prevailed whistle research up to now,
Newly discovered whistles info and manufacturers led me to work on a new updated series of articles about whistles and their makers.
Some of the observations and conclusions can be found hinted
in between the lines.
This article would deal with some news about the background and The
First address For J. Hudson previously unknown and mostly
Police whistles made by J. Hudson & Co. in 1882 – 1885 ,
Mostly the ones not made for the Metropolitan police (Already discussed in Depth in the “Collecting Police whistles and Similar Types ” Book by Martyn Gilchrist and Simon Topman Pub. 1998 ) The Book is a must and highly recommended for anyone who wishes to study whistles ,
Published almost 20 years ago it was a great stepping stone and inspiration for collectors and students of these and the best so far .

While the previous article dealt with How to date J. Hudson whistles by Stamps and other means, Victorian and Post Victorian stamps and the next would try to deal with whistle manufactured 1870 – 1882.
Joseph Hudson started working with metal at the age of Twelve that is 1860 ,
a dated metal ashtray stamped with his name and was found, since studying
whistle makers we now know that every Master studied – worked with a previous one since there were no schools for that it fits well that J .H. worked for Bent & Parker on 87 Newhall st. ( Parker Joined Bent in 1863 )
they were making military ornaments and whistles .
In 1870 the Young 22 years old Hudson moved to start his own workshop buying tools and having a home work shop, In Febuary 1871 he got married to Jane,  and was working as a military ornament maker at :
7 House, Court 3, Bell Barn Road in 1871.
In 1874 He had his younger brother James Joined him and together
they had a larger place at 17 Mark’s St Registered as Co.  Joseph and James Hudson Co.
In 1876 they  registered a corkscrew and whistle design .
( James Died in 1889 making some unique whistles which are recognizeable by his unique Mouthpiece )
As all other “whistle Makers” at the period whistles were a small part of business and a large array of products and they as othesr
relied financially on manufacturing many other Brass items .
It was so to such an extent that WHISTLE MAKERS advertisments
in previous years mentioned DOZENS of items but no whistles
albeit they were the largest manufacturers of whistles , (1830’s – 1870’s ).

First address known for J. Hudson 7 House, Court 3, Bell Barn Road. Barn
1870 – 1874

So we have Hudson at Two addresses in the Early Years:
1870 – 1874 :  7 House, Court 3 Bell Barn Road
1874 – 1881  :  17 St. Mark’s St. cottages 
Continue reading J. Hudson & co. New Historical Research The 1870 First Address Found and the 1882 To 1885 The Unknown Police whistles , Asylums , Fire Brigades Prison and Parks whistles by J. Hudson & Co.

Victorian and Post Victorian General Service whistles made by J. Hudson & Co. before 1902 and Post 1902 system for Dating whistles by Stamps.

This is a work is certainly great news for whistle collectors about Dating the
J. Hudson & Co. whistles  in The 19th Cent and the early First quarter of the 20th Century.
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The article is based on CAREFUL OBSERVATION of  STAMPS and DETAILS brings a new set of thumb rules when dating Hudson whistles.
some points here are really for the ADVANCED COLLECTOR.
This article is a  great addition to the tools of dating whistles and none police whistles as G.P.O and other services.

For many years the dating system was based on 4 basic elements shapes of a whistle’s parts (see interlude ).
These are:  The Mouthpiece, The Loop, The address on Body and the one which one can not see without looking into the whistle itself that is the Diaphragm disk construction. Most advanced collectors are familiar with these and use to determine the date.

We learn that the address does NOT always correspond with date made , or serves as an always an accurate tool for knowing the exact year-date made.

Many marked 13 Barr St. where actually made later at 244 Barr St and stamped with the older address . This explains a 13 Barr st. address stamped whistle with a military date of 1910, 1911, 1912, 1913 for example.

I will try to bring it in a chronological in 3 Main parts :

Interlude
Table one and variations in a closer look
Table II and variations in a closer look

So take a CLOSE LOOK at the stamps :
—————————————————————————————
Interlude

As interlude a general view of Pre 1902 in the first line and Post 1902 in 2nd line : Stamps and whistle 3 main whistle parts, The next Three charts deal with each of the parts separately .

The Mouthpiece
The early one is what I called ‘apple’  mouth Piece 1883 -1885
Second is the the ‘Sand clock’ shape 1886 -1920’s
and the third the ‘flattened Sand Clock’ 1920’s -Late 30’s

The Loop
4 Main Types of loops in  J. Hudson & Co. Tube whistles
Thin Concave 1882* -1900
Thicker Concave Loop 1901 -1908
Slightly concave on a two part top of Loop – Ring and cap. and Flat  ring 1908 onward . There are more variations looking at the loop from the other angle,
Viewing the hole , for example the later D shaped loop.

* 1882 is rare , made at 17 Mark st. few are known so in general we start at 1883 .
A General Chart of J. Hudson stamps , General View Pre and Post Victorian Period .

First PRE 1902 Table I Chart   Ia, Ib

Table I

 

I a

Continue reading Dating of Hudson Tube Whistles NEWS ! Victorian & Post Victorian Times By Stamps….

More Whistles by Martyn Gilchrist and some about two early whistles and updates about the makers history.
Above B. Lilly and Sons whistle which seems to be made by Henry Arthur Ward,
New material points to the facts that B. Lilly started at 1857 and H.A. Ward at about the same time as J. Ward 1857 * (See foot note) Both were skilled brass founders.
There seem to be 3 Variations some differ in the inner parts , Here is another larger variation which seems to be a later one with a none cast Mouthpiece.

Continue reading More Whistles By Martyn Gilchrist, B. Lilly & Sons – H. A. Ward Siren Whistle, J. Dixon & Sons Pre 1843 Beaufort Whistle

A web site dedicated to whistles, research and collecting whistles. by Avner Strauss.

The well known foremost website Whistlemuseum is now in the progress of rebuilding.

See you soon! Please feel free to contact for advice on whistles. We will not be able to answer all questions only questions with a photo attached can be answered.

Thanks for visiting and sharing

Avner Strauss