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An air horn consists of a flaring metal or plastic horn or trumpet (called the "bell") attached to a small air chamber containing a metal reed or diaphragm in the throat of the horn. Compressed air flows from an inlet line through a narrow opening past the reed or diaphragm, causing it to vibrate, which creates sound waves .
Robert Swanson (1905–1994) [1] was a Canadian researcher and developer, and is credited with the invention of the first five and six-chime air horns for use on locomotives. Swanson had worked as the chief engineer of a company called Victoria Lumber Manufacturing in the 1920s, when he developed a hobby for making steam whistles for ...
Prior to the early 1950s, locomotives were equipped with air horns that sounded a single note. Swanson sought to develop an air horn which would mimic the sound of a classic steam whistle. Using ancient Chinese musical theory, Swanson produced the six-note model 'H6'. This was impractical for railroad use, due to its relatively large size.
To distinguish their sound from truck and bus air horns, train horns in the U.S. consist of groups of two to five horns (called "chimes") which have different notes, sounded together to form a chord. In Japan , most modern trains like 209 series or E233 series from the first half of the 1990s onwards use electric horns as primary in passenger use.
All foghorns use a vibrating column of air to create an audible tone, but the method of setting up this vibration differs. Some horns, such as the Daboll trumpet, used vibrating plates or metal reeds, a similar principle to a modern electric car horn. Others used air forced through holes in a rotating cylinder or disk, in the same manner as a ...
Steam whistles were also used as a warning device if a supply of steam was present, such as a sawmill or factory. These were common before fire sirens became widely available, particularly in the former Soviet Union. Fire horns, large compressed air horns, also were and still are used as an alternative to a fire siren.
A train whistle or air whistle (originally referred to as a train trumpet or air trumpet) is an audible signaling device on a steam or gas locomotive, used to warn that the train is approaching, and to communicate with rail workers. Modern diesel and electric locomotives primarily use a powerful air horn instead of a whistle as an audible ...
Beginning in 1869, [17] steam whistles began being installed at lighthouse stations as a way of warning mariners in periods of fog, when the lighthouse is not visible. 10" diameter whistles were used as fog signals throughout the United States for many years, [17] until they were later replaced by other compressed air diaphragm or diaphone horns.