Steam Whistle - Loudest and Largest Whistles

Loudest and Largest Whistles

Loudness is a subjective perception that is influenced by sound pressure level, sound duration, and sound frequency. High sound pressure level potential has been claimed for the whistles of Vladimir Gavreau, who tested whistles as large as 1.5 meter (59-inch) diameter (37 Hz). A 20-inch diameter ring-shaped whistle (“Ultrawhistle”) patented and produced by Richard Weisenberger sounded 124 decibels at 100 feet. The variable pitch steam whistle at the New York Wire Company in York, Pennsylvania, was entered in the Guinness Book of World Records in 2002 as the loudest steam whistle on record at 124.1dBA from a set distance used by Guinness. The York whistle was also measured at 134.1 decibels from a distance of 23-feet.

A fire-warning whistle supplied to a Canadian saw mill by the Eaton, Cole, and Burnham Company in 1882 measured 20 inches in diameter, four feet nine inches from bowl to ornament, and weighed 400 pounds. The spindle supporting the whistle bell measured 3.5 inches diameter and the whistle was supplied by a four inch feed pipe. Other records of large whistles include an 1893 account of U.S. President Grover Cleveland activating the “largest steam whistle in the world,” said to be “five feet” at the Chicago World's Fair. The sounding chamber of a whistle installed at the 1924 Long-Bell Lumber Company, Longview, Washington measured 16 inches diameter x 49 inches in length. The whistle bells of multi-bell chimes used on ocean liners such as the RMS Titanic measured 9, 12, and 15 inches diameter. The whistle bells of the Canadian Pacific steamships Assiniboia and Keewatin measured 12 inches in diameter and that of the Keewatin measured 60 inches in length. A multi-bell chime whistle installed at the Standard Sanitary Manufacturing Company in 1926 was composed of five separate whistle bells measuring 5 x15, 7 x 21, 8x 24, 10 x 30, and 12 x36 inches, all plumbed to a five-inch steam pipe. The Union Water Meter Company of Worcester Massachusetts produced a gong whistle composed of three bells, 8 x 9-3/4, 12 x 15, and 12 x 25 inches. Twelve-inch diameter steam whistles were commonly used at light houses in the 19th century. It has been claimed that the sound level of an Ultrawhistle would be significantly greater than that of a conventional whistle, but comparative tests of large whistles have not been undertaken. Tests of small Ultrawhistles have not shown higher sound levels compared to conventional whistles of the same diameter.