Whistle Categories > Button Whistles
Where did button whistles originate?
Button whistles are shaped like escargot or snail whistles. They appear on the scene in the early 1800s inside the UK. Only a few other countries manufactured them, or if they did, scarcely so. From this time, they continued to be produced in very sparse amounts throughout the UK up to circa 1880.
They were made by manufacturers of other products as a sideline. Additionally, craftsmen could easily master small orders. Workshops at railway companies were also capable of manufacturing the.
The growth of forces such as police, fire brigades, railway and even large estates in the UK was wrapped up with the growth of button whistles for half a century.
How are button whistles identified?
Button whistles are easily identified because of the use of actual metal buttons to complete the whistle sides of the barrel chamber. These may be small or large buttons which incorporated tunic buttons or sleeve buttons and evens coins fall into this category of button whistles.
They are mixed metals of the whistle body ( usually of steel ) and buttons of nickel silver, brass and copper, and therefore of a wide variety of designs and materials.
Further identification is made from the inside of the button surfaces with button company stamps and from the outside designs of the buttons themselves. Most seen are livery which some estimates are 70,000.
Why were they made?
Button whistles may have their earliest uses with house servants as well as railway and police forces, admittedly for far less use. Notably there were many livery buttons used reflecting coat of arms, fire brigades, police, military for years. The use for whistles apparently for status like the colors of the household.
Livery uniforms were provided by the head of a household who commissioned clothing for the servants of certain design and colors.
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