The Whistle Machine

That is very cool!

There is a lot of nice whistles there and I like the homemade ones.
How do the horn bells operate?
I guess it was trial and error to find the right location with the size of the slot to make those work at a desired pressure.
Would you know what was the highest pressure (100/120) your grandfather use to blow the whistles?

You must get this up and running with a video even if it just a short blast.
Imagoine operating this at New Years Eve when the clock strike 12 and watch your neighbors come out

That is a very interesting setup. Looks like your grandfather was quite the piping and whistle inventor. Very impressive! Did he happen to work in the pipe trades by chance? Could each whistle be operated separately or did they all sound at once? I too would love to hear it when you get it all working again. Good luck with it and I hope you are able to get it going again.

On a side note, it kind of looks like the beginnings of pipe organ, which I have also always been fascinated with.

My grandfather was a dentist!

But he grew up in pre-depression Cleveland OH - and I think - loved big machines. He was the guy who instilled the love of trains in my uncle...who ended up pushing me to the hobby albeit posthumously.

Here's a video of the first time I turned it on following my uncles passing - when we were dealing with the estate.

The compressor really struggled to get above 40-50 pounds - video is kind of anti-climatic since I don't get the big horn to blow - but you get the idea.

that's great! with a bit more pressure you'll be playing a symphony.

I would have never guessed he was a dentist? Sure thought he would have had some piping background? Oh, well he did a great job there and is is a neat bunch of whistles and horns.

That is kind of a strange coincidence too, the only pipe organ I have ever gotten close to and had a slight glimpse of was in the home of a dentist. I was making a delivery there back in the early '70s, when I was not long out of high school. He wasn't home, but his wife let me have a look at it. She didn't know how to work it and he was still working on getting it fully functional so I never got to hear it.

Thanks for the added info and sound video. Please post more when you get it all up and going again.

I LOVE that thing!  It looks like something from an old cartoon.  You can almost hear the compressor saying "I think I can, I think I can..."

Tom