Mechanical horn From the moment mechanical transport appeared and in some cases even earlier than that people needed a means to warn pedestrians of a coming vehicle to ensure their safety. Wind signaling devices or klaxons as well as small bells had certain disadvantages. Bells could continuously ring as the vehicle moved on a bad road or at a high speed. A klaxon required that the driver used their whole hand to make a sound. This was especially unacceptable for two-wheel transport including bicycles and motorcycles. Raymond Beaty, a mechanic from New-Jersey, offered a solution to this problem. It was the mechanical horn. Structurally it consisted of small bells with an actuating mechanism hidden inside and a small lever operated by the driver's finger. The whole mechanism was placed on the bicycle handle bar. To produce a sound the lever was to be pulled. As the lever moved it turned the shaft to which the mainspring with hammers at the ends was attached. The spring is cok! ed and released with the help of the lever. It causes the hammers to hit the bells. At the same time the driver can honk the horn with just a finger. Thanks to its simplicity and reliability, bicycle horn of this design became widely spread and was used for over a hundred years. Only in the recent years the electric ringer started to replace it.
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