needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . may 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message j. hudson and co. ltd type private industry manufacturing founded birmingham england 1883 headquarters birmingham england key people joseph hudson founder simon topman managing director products whistles revenue 5 million gbp 2005 number of employees 100 website www.acmewhistles.co.uk j hudson & co was founded in the 1870s in birmingham by joseph hudson 1848 1930 and his brother james hudson 1850 1888 . the company became a manufacturer of whistles and continues as acme whistles . acme is the world s largest and most famous producer of whistles . they are headquartered in the jewellery quarter district of birmingham england . contents 1 history 1.1 1883 1908 1.2 1909 1930 1.3 1930 2000 1.4 2000 present 2 patents registered designs and trademarks 3 catalogues 4 models and whistle types 5 body stamps 6 references 7 external links history edit the company was family run for over 100 years and three generations ; joseph hudson s son james clifford hudson and his grandson leon clifford hudson ran the company after joseph retired . as of 2014 acme whistles is owned and managed by simon topman . 1 1883 1908 edit joseph hudson started working at the age of 12 . he moved to bent & parker a maker of army supplies and whistles in birmingham . in 1870 aged 22 he started his own business with younger brother james . in 1883 hudson began tinkering in his toolshed to make gadgets to sell including whistles . after observing local police struggling to communicate with rattles 2 he realised that his whistle could be used as a tool . as the story goes hudson a violin player accidentally dropped his violin and it shattered on the floor . observing how the discordant sound of the breaking strings travelled hudson had the idea to put a pea in the whistle . 3 this gave it an ear splitting rattle that could grab attention even a mile away . 3 after a demonstration at scotland yard hudson had his first sale . this 1884 contract with the police gradually made hudson the largest whistle manufacturer for british empire police forces military sports railways and many others . by the 1890s hudson faced the rise of many competitor makers and companies . highlights of early company history include 1895 introduction of the acme siren 1898 hudson purchases black & co. 1898 j barrall exits the whistle making business . 1901 hudson makes stevens & sons whistles . 1904 hudson purchases r a walton . 1907 hudson purchases s auld whistles continuing to manufacture their models especially the round pignose type known as glasgow type police call . 1904 hudson fills orders along with de courcy for w dowler & sons who stops manufacturing whistles . during this period coney & co. stops making whistles and hudson makes their models . in early 1900 hudson makes whistles on a small scale for bent & parker . at an unknown date c. late 1890s early 1900 t yates stops manufacturing whistles . circa 1908 h a ward stops making whistles . by 1908 hudson and de courcy were the two major whistle makers in england . 1909 1930 edit the acme thunderer . the name acme was taken from the greek word acme meaning a high point indicating that the whistle was a tool for producing a very high decibel level . their tornado 2000 whistle is capable of easily reaching 122 decibels . starting 1909 at a new facility in northern birmingham at 244 barr st. hudson expanded to more markets in europe and overseas with an office in paris a large 1910 french catalogue and new connections with united states sporting goods companies and distributors . hudson was left with just one british competitor a de courcy & co from 1909 to 1927 . in 1927 hudson purchased a de courcy s patent rights tools and stock . hudson became the world s largest maker gaining the thunderer registered trademark . the acme thunderer whistle and its variations became the world s best selling whistle . during this period 1925 to 1930 three generations of the hudson family ran the business together . this was the end of the golden age of whistle making . 1930 2000 edit at the beginning of this period the company faced competition from whistles made of tin plastic and cast base metal materials made in germany japan usa and other countries . on 26 october 1940 the factory received a direct hit from a german air raid . no one was injured but the factory suffered major damage . air raid precautions whistles were made during the next few years and dated whistles for army navy and royal air force equipment and for civil defence . in 1949 the firm was re constituted as j. hudson & co. whistles ltd. leon c. hudson became its first managing director . the 1950s and 60s marked growing demand for hudson sports whistles olympics and other sport events on five continents . in 1957 a. r. topman became an assistant general manager and about 40 years later his son simon topman became the owner and the managing director of the company starting the fourth period of company developments . 2000 present edit the factory name was changed to acme whistles and makes about 5 million whistles each year . it continues to register new patents for whistles . the period was marked with growing competition from far east and chinese manufacturers . they have made over a billion whistles altogether . citation needed in addition to the thunderer they make varieties of bird calls dog calls safety whistles sports whistles and party whoopers . patents registered designs and trademarks edit year patent description 1885 435 whistle diaphragm disk 1898 19700 whistle diaphragm disk 1907 1112 whistle combined with pocket knife 1907 25619 whistle attached to a wrist strap 1908 5727 two piece top 1911 28999 unibody gsw 1923 213487 groove in cap for escargot type 1923 214519 pressed top registered designs year number details 1895 256361 double end whistle metropolitan plus round pea whistle type 1893 217010 oval whistle 1897 311230 oval whistle with oval porteous top 1909 540164 pillar top 1924 705987 compass replacing top cap registered trademarks the metropolitan 1884 the acme the kinglet 1907 acme city 1907 emca 1922 acme 1927 the above tables shows essential patents and registered designs out of many and up to 1927 . many patents were registered after 1927 and new improvements and inventions are constantly being registered . catalogues edit 1935 acme whistle catalogue english 1910 acme whistle catalogue french models and whistle types edit while many makers concentrated on limited variety j hudson & co made a wide variety of common whistle types including bird calls dog calls fox calls and musical whistles as well as sound effects slide whistles and novelty combination whistles . some models such as the thunderer escargot type and the metropolitan general service whistle have been popular throughout most of the company s history . hudson was the only maker in the united kingdom to use wood horn bakelite plastic and silver while competitors other than james dixon & sons were working solely with metal or other materials . body stamps edit hudson stamped addresses and other marks on many of its whistles . marked service whistles have been used by many police forces railway companies fire brigades and other organisations . the stamps supply an easy tool for dating the item . address stamps are more commonly found on the gsws than other types . notable body stamps include police small arms inspection marks or army broad arrow stamps . early metropolitan police whistles had a hand engraved number at the back that were punched on later ones . these exist in various forms and have been classified as mp 1 to mp 22 . 4 the mark street address clarification needed is not known to have been used on any whistles and beside the addresses mentioned at the top table the address barr street hockley was used on many whistles made after world war i. the stamp of 131 barr street is extremely rare on escargot type . early general service whistles have a patent & j hudson & co stamp on the diaphragm . acme remains a common stamp on hudson whistles as does the reversed name emca . at times initials consisting of a single letter or two are used as abbreviations ; mh for mental hospital fb for fire brigade p for prison or police t for tramway and others . stamps of a particular model or popular names at one time or another include international the king s own or taxi call . references edit walker bob 2009 05 24 . uk company whistles through history . bbc news . retrieved 2014 01 27 . taylor j. the victorian police rattle mystery the constabulary 2003 archived 18 april 2009 at the wayback machine . a b history of the whistle . gdfra.org.au . retrieved 2014 01 27 . gilchrist martyn 1998 . collecting police whistles and similar types . topcrest . isbn 978 095332370 8 . external links edit j hudson & co company web site j. hudson & co. whistle manufacturer history . by a.strauss v t e whistles and whistling apito boatswain s call dog eagle bone hand flute language monopipe pyzhatka shepherd s steam train wolf alfred de courcy fox 40 j hudson & co james dixon & sons w dowler & sons henry arthur ward retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title j hudson % 26 co & oldid 742273246 categories manufacturing companies based in birmingham west midlandsmusical instrument manufacturing companieswhistle manufacturershidden categories articles with wayback machine linksengvarb from september 2013use dmy dates from september 2013articles needing additional references from may 2009all articles needing additional referencesall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from november 2012wikipedia articles needing clarification from november 2012 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in 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