THE GABRIEL HORN: From the archives of Bob Montgomery, motoring historian
How to announce one's passage and clear the road of any human or animal obstacles was something that considerably exercised the minds of early motorists. Various bulb horns were introduced but these were initially quite controversial as they were more likely to aggravate the situation with regard to horses in particular, who were probably already frightened by the approach of a car.
In time, as the law began to legislate for the growing presence of motorised vehicles, most - though not all - countries called for cars to be equipped at all times with a bell, horn or other means of giving "audible warning of approach."
Early motorists seem to have attached great importance to their means of "giving audible warning of approach" and many and varied were the forms of horn which were available to add as an accessory to their car.
Early motoring magazines and books advertised all sorts of devices that claimed to provide the required sounds. There were bulb horns, electric horns, horns with their own air pump driven from the flywheel, and horns (sirens) operated by winding a handle, not to mention bells, gongs and exhaust whistles, and frequently cars were fitted with more than one device, fitted close to the driver's hand.
The electric horn, more or less as we know it, when it came into use around 1912/13 was not welcomed and was seen as a rather inelegant solution to the problem, prompting Rankin Kennedy, writing in the Book of the Motor Car (1913) to state:
"Of late, electrical horns have come into use, in which a harsh sound is produced by a series of raps upon a metal disc, and mechanical devices have been brought out to produce a noise in the same way. The exhaust has been applied to blow whistles, and so on in endless variety every device for producing a noise has been offered the motorist for use as a road warning. These mechanical and electrical devices are based on the same principle as the old clappers used in the fields by boys hired to scare away crows. The only advantage they seem to possess is that the driver is saved the trouble of squeezing the rubber bulb, and has only to press a button."
But perhaps the horn which most caught the imagination of the early motorist was 'The Gabriel Horn'. This was an expensive exhaust-operated device which was described by its makers as 'The King of Signals - the Signal of Kings' and produced a penetrating, but apparently musical note to, as one writer described "acquaint the man in the street with the fact that his (or her) presence was not desired immediately in front of your approaching radiator."
Gabriel Horns at one stage introduced a sort of super deluxe model, which instead of being operated by a foot pedal in the usual way, had a small keyboard adjacent to the driver's hand on which could be produced a variety of tunes ranging from 'Swanee River' to an adaptation of 'The Merry Widow'! Sequences of tunes could even be played, but all this technology raised the price of this particular Gabriel Horn from the normal £2.10 shillings to a staggering £40.
Hopefully, that was enough to put most motorists off buying this device!