Untitled record

Application filed. January 16, 1882. (Ko model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Peter Torpel, of Jersey City Heights, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented an Im5 provement in Fog-Horns, of which the following is a specification.

Fog-horns have been made with a vibrator or tongue of thin sheet metal resting against a hollow case, and these have been fastened io into a circular base, from the edges of which base the trumpet-shaped tube projects. These iog-horns have been blown by a plunger acting within a sheet-metal tube. Toy musical instruments have been made with a harmonica 15 with numerous notes upon a casing that is connected to the trumpet. Fog-horns have been made of a whistle or horn attached to the flat end of a cylinder in which is a piston moved by a rack and pinion, and the horn has 20 been screwed to the cylinder or to a mouthpiece; but the base of the vibrator has either been soldered directly to the horn or else there has been a double conical expanding chamber between the vibrator and the horn. In fog25 horns of this character the primary vibrations from the tongue are not concentrated, and the air as it issues through the vibrator has to expand before it reaches the interior of the trumpetportion of the horn. Hencealarge por30 tion of its resonant effect is lost and the foghorn has an indistinct and muffled sound. This is particularly⁷ the case in the ordinary foghorns used on sailing-vessels, and which are usually made of common sheet-tin.

My present invention relates to the combination, with the vibrating tongue and base, of a conical concentrator intervening between the base and the flaring horn or trumpet, whereby the primary atmospheric vibrations 40 due to the tremulous movement of the tongue are concentrated upon the base of the trumpet and impart to the same a vibration which sets the air in motion, producing a loud distinct sound that can be heard a long distance in a 45 ^f°g’·

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the fog-horn complete; and Fig. 2 is a section,in larger size, of the concentrator and mouth-piece.

The air-forcing cylinder a is made of sheet 50 metal, with a sheet-metal plunger, b, around which, near the end, there is a winding of fibrous material to form a packing. The plunger b is closed at the end, so as to act in expelling the air. The cylinder a is contracted to the 55 screw-coupling c, and there is a corresponding screw, cl, around the base of the primary vibrator e, so that the two partscan be screwed together, or a mouth-piece, /, be screwed at the base cl, when it is desired to blow the fog- 60 horn by the mouth, instead of using the airforcing cylinder and plunger.

The primary vibrator is made of the tongue e, that lies flat against the side of a hollow or trough-shaped case, i. The ends of both the 65 tongue and case pass through the base d.

Instead of attaching the born or trumpet directly to the edges of the base d, as has heretofore been done, I introduce the conical concentrator I between the edges of the base and ₇o the trumpet, and the inner end of the trumpet is reduced in size to correspond with the small end of the concentrator, and the two are soldered firmly together. The result of this construction is that the air which is set in vibra- 75 tion by the tongue acts directly at the apex of the trumpet and gives a distinct and musical sound that is adapted to be heard at a long distance.