Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning brief history of U.S. auto and loco horns

What follows is based on my "pitch memory". I've not had access to the
voluminous spectroscopic data (yeah, right!) residing in the classified
section of the vaults of the Big Three.
As a mid-'40's child I remember hearing a wide variety of timbres and
intervals in automotive horns. The un-muted trumpet tone whas present, but
the "amplified Miles Davis" sound was very common. Our '41 Shevvy had such a
horn, playing a d-f Minor Thirds in warm weather; a DB-F major third in
cold. Some Ford models had a C-EB horn with that same timbre but with a very
prominent formant around 1600 hz. Bizzz-zarre!
My neighbor's '46 Plymouth had an open-trumpet horn at dB-GB and I heard
variably-pitched perfect-4th horns on radio adverts.
The single-note horn was there, E flat being the most common. (All this was
in Minnesota. I've no idea if demographics played a part in horn calls then)
By late '48/early '49, just when "fluid drive" diesel-electric locomotives
were changing the sonic landscape, the open-trumpet, minor third horn
prevailed. There have always been renegades, but from then untill the early
'60's, that horn was ubiquitous. There again, the third could drift from
minor to a Pythagorean-sound maujor depending on, um, I dunno, the emotions
of the guy to stamped the diaphragm?
Then, around the time the touchtone phone came and we got that F-A dialtone,
so the F-A carhorn arose to ascendancy. After that, most carhorns were at
that pitch or high, up to a_C#. Major thirds seem to have edged ahead of
minor thirds.
Also, under the influence of imported cars, we got back to the wondrous
variety of the early '40's again. (Again, the stated pitches are average.
Pitch may vary without notification of customer. Void where prohibited.)
Truck horns: I never heard a maj or third one when it comes to "serious" air
horns. All Minor Thirds and they go as low as G below Middle C.
Train whistles: the five-horn variety could play any number of exotic
chords, but it seems to me that the e-g-b-d-e (pitch can vary) variety was
more prevalent. I _have heard a g-BB-D-F-A-C, yes, a 6-note wonder. In the
4-note class, a half-diminished chord was common, but I remember, one "dark
and stromy night", hearing one play F-BB-EB-GB. Ominous one, that.
Then the diesels came in and for nigh on to ten years they blew either a
single note (from the D to E below middle C) or a dual horn, usually a
fifth, but some times a Minor 6, and one engine blew a Minor 2nd for about a
year. I heard they stopped using these horns because, in Northern climes, it
attracted moose and other consequential critters onto the tracks.
So they went back to chorded horns, and we now also have three-note ones.
Either a Major triad in first inversion, or a Diminished triad in first
inversion. My question, is this sort of news to folks living across the
pond? I notice that, in movies and other documents of British and European
travel that the trains have single-note hooters that are rarely below about
700 hz.
Well, there's your light reading for the day. Sorry for the typos, but I'm
without feedback while in Windows for a day or two, so I'm flying blinder
than usual, but I jiss hadta get in on this horn thingie.

brief history of U.S. auto and loco horns

🔗Jay Williams <jaywill@xxxxxxxxxx.xxxx>

🔗Bill Schottstaedt <bil@xxxxx.xxxxxxxx.xxxx>

🔗johnlink@xxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)