Giant Air Horn Blows Folks Away

Giant Air Horn Blows Folks Away Dave Dam is known for turning old artillery shells of various sizes into amazing steam whistles see Vol 34 No 5   The Eau Claire Wis whistle expert recently turned a giant 2-ft long cast aluminum air horn made by the Westinghouse Air Brake Company into an attraction at antique engine shows The flared end of the horn measures 10 in in diameter “This air horn was originally designed to be used in trains and factories I found it at a surplus store ” says Dam “The round end piece that contains the baffle - which causes the vibration that makes the sound - was missing so I made a new one out of aluminum I also made a 5-in baffle from stainless steel I installed a pipe thread in the baffle and hooked a nipple up to it so I could attach an air hose “Sometimes I take my air horn to antique engine shows where I hook it up to an air compressor tank in the back of my pickup It sounds like a riverboat or a foghorn I use a 100-lb propane tank for an air tank and usually keep the pressure at 125 lbs ”   Dam’s collection of artillery shell steam whistles has about doubled in size since FARM SHOW’S first report He now has about 45 in his collection and has another half dozen 21-in tall 105 mm Howitzer shells on hand The biggest whistles can be heard a couple of miles away He takes them to antique engine shows to blow for the noon whistle   Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Dave Dam 111 N Buena Vista Rd Eau Claire Wis 54703 ph 715 450-2943

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