factory whistle
Industrial time announcement
A factory whistle is a loud steam- or air-powered whistle used to signal shift changes at industrial workplaces.
Before widespread clock ownership, factory whistles regulated workers' days—announcing start times, lunch breaks, and quitting time.
The sound carries symbolic weight as an emblem of industrial labor and working-class life: We lived close enough to hear the factory whistle every morning.
- sirenWailing alert device
- steamHeated water's gaseous form
- steam engineThermal vapor motor
- shiftMovement or work period
- shift changeScheduled workforce rotation
horn · blast · noon · lunch break · morning · early morning · clocking · timekeeping · industrial · mill · smokestacks · workers · blue collar · lunch · quitting · end of day · shrill · piercing
- loud soundsloud, scream, yell, thunderous, screaming
- whistles
- mill townmill town, mill, mill workers, mill pond, mill race
- alert soundsalarm, beep, buzzer, chime, doorbell
- timekeeping traditionssundial, hourglass, water clock, calendar, lunar calendar
- time traditionsdaylight saving, time zones, leap year, calendar systems, New Year countdown
factory whistlechurch bells
Bronze instruments in steeples
rooster crow · birdsong · clock tower · silence · babbling brook
factory whistlelast call
Pre-closing drink announcement
recess bell · dinner bell · all clear signal · vacation · freedom
factory whistlealarm clock
Timed sleep-ender
wristwatch · internal clock · circadian rhythm · gut feeling
factory, whistle, factories, factoring, factor, factors, factorial, manufacture, manufacturer