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wednesday ◄
9.8.99 ◄
eight.a ◄
Then and Now: The steam whistle
story by john audlehelm • photo by tara kraus
All choked up
KU employees work to restore historical 'Tooty-Toot'
Timeline
1 The University of Kansas installs the whistle to regulate class periods. Then-chancelor Frank强壮 sets a policy: "If the instructor isn't through when the whistle goes off, get up and go."
The whistle is moved to the power plant behind Stauffer-Flint Hall so that it can be heard more clearly throughout the entire campus. 1 2 3
The whistle breaks down, but it is repaired and continues to operate.
University alumnus 1
Capt. Robert A. Haggart donates a new whistle. This whistle was too quiet and the original whistle was eventually reinstalled.
9 A new whistle is installed, replacing the original that had been damaged by a blowout since 1932.
University silences the 1 whistle during an experiment to gauge the effects of the whistle on students nerves.
The whistle ceases to sound on Saturdays.
The whistle top blasts off during the first day of spring semester. 9 10 11 12
1999
9 Silence falls across campus as Tooty-Toot fails to sound.
A University of Kansas tradition of 87 years has been silenced temporarily, but is making a comeback.
The University's steam whistle has not sounded for more than a week. Facilities operations is doing several repairs on the whistle and is also upgrading many of its parts. Bob Seiber, steamshop foreman at facilities operations, said the whistle should resume operation at the end of this week.
The whistle usually blows at 20 minutes after the hour on weekdays and 50 minutes after the hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays to signal the end of classes.
Charles Higginson, program associate in journalism, said he noticed the whistle acting strangely last week. During one blast, it seemed to be half on, and it blew for longer than it should have, he said.
"It it just sounded, oh, kind of wheezy—kind of like it was hoarse," Higginson said. George Cone, assistant director of mechanical systems at facilities operations, said dissolved solids
from the boilers clogging the valve were a major problem for the whistle.
Facilities operations recently changed chemical companies, Cone said, and the new chemicals are cleaning out the boilers. The cleaning process frees up dissolved solids, and the system needs time to flush them out, he said.
"It's just like washing your car with hard water," Cone said.
Cone cited other problems, including old air compressors and filters and an inadequate valve. The whistle blows at 175 pounds per square inch, and the current valve is only rated at 125 psi. Cone said.
Cone said that he wanted students to know facilities operations was working on the problem and that the whistle was important to the University.
"It'll be a whistle upgrade," he said.
"We're advancing. We're getting out
of the 1960s, and we're going to be operating in the 21st century.
"It just sounded, oh, kind of wheezy—kind of hoarse."
Kelly Kline, Overland Park sophomore, said she was more dependent on the whistle.
"Things change, and they're getting better," Cone said. "Believe it or not, if everybody will have a little bit of patience, we'll get the whistle back up," Cone said.
Ben Hutnick, Overland Park sophomore, said he had not noticed the whistle was down. He said that he didn't wait for the whistle to go to and from classes.
"I have actually noticed it," she said. "It helps me to know how much time I have to get to class."
Charles Higginson
Kline said she frequently forgot to wear a watch, so when she heard the whistle she simply hurried to class.
"I have a problem with time in that I ignore it," he said. "I'm not dependent on it as a signal that all
Program associate in journalism
activities are to come to a screeching halt—'screeching' in keeping with the deafening, shrill skriek of the whistle.
Hutnick said he recalled his first experience with the whistle very distinctly.
"Last year, I walked by it, and it scared the crap out of me," he said.
"It made me jump out of my pants, made me think a train was going to run over me."
Kline said she was not surprised by the whistle blast the first time she heard it. She said a friend had told her what it was for.
Cone said the whistle had been the cause of a number of near-accidents. Workers in the building sometimes do not realize the time, and the blast takes them off guard, he said.
Cone said that after serving in the Navy for 28 years, he was used to loud whistles.
"After coming off the ships, that whistle's small," he said.
The whistle has, save for a few hitches, faithfully
Capt. Robert A. Haggart donates a whistle that he recovered from a sunken German transport in Italy. The whistle sounded when Germany surrendered in 1944.
performed its duty for almost nine decades.
The popular plan was adopted in March 1912, despite the objections of "a few persons with nerves."
The idea of using the whistle to regulate class periods first appeared in the Kansan in February 1912.
the objections of a few persons with nerves.
"It is pointed out that the general University catalogue says not a word of Mt. Oread as a retreat for neurotics," the Kansas said in March 1912.
A breakdown in communication delayed the whistle operation for about a week. The Kansan said "Tooty-Toot" was on strike.
The whistle was blown off the roof a few years after its installation and a new whistle was temporarily used. It shrieked so badly that students demanded, and received, the return of Tooty-Toot.
In 1977, because of complaints that the whistle affected peoples' nerves, the University silenced the whistle on an experimental basis.
The whistle had its first serious breakdown in 1932, but it was repaired and continued to operate.
Valk said that despite his nostalgia, he enjoyed the silence.
The whistle blew again after 10 weeks, when students voted for its return.
Whether Toot-Toot will receive such a warm welcome this time remains to be seen.
"As I grow more traditional I grow to appreciate quietude," he said.
Above: The whistle blows off steam in 1900. The steam comes from the boilers in the University's power plant. Contributed art
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