Busacca Gallery

Antique Civil War metal whistle Pewter Whistle - Civil War Era Pewter Whistle with cork ball inside, works fine, the whistle shows age & use, possible used by war police, nice example. Whistle blowing, make a sound with this quality whistle. The mechanism assures high whistle sounds. Solid metal construction in a classic shape and natural finish. this is a Civil War 1860s or earlier rare antique metal whistle. Whistles can be used for increase personal awareness of your surroundings, especially for alone in the woods or at night or during the early morning hours to scare the hell out of the enemy and put him on adge. The whistle was for survival, safety, and communication purposes. This unique whistle focuses manmade air streams through harmonically tuned chambers to create a piercing shriek audible over most other natural and manmade noises.

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistle

A simple whistle is a woodwind instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. The whistle has its roots dating back to ancient China. Chinese night watchmen used to blow into the tops of acorns in order to alert the towns of invading Mongolians. 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. The whistle works by causing the smooth flow of air to be split by a narrow blade, sometimes called a fipple, creating a turbulent vortex which causes the air to vibrate. By attaching a 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 chaotic vibrato effect that intensifies the sound. Japanese bird whistles use several small balls and are half filled with water in order to reproduce the sound of a bird song.