ACME Whistles and the D-Day Clicker

Did you know that the most interesting Acme whistle was not actually a whistle at all? The Acme clicker was a genius idea – for about 24 hours. And then it wasn't.

Joseph Hudson (1848–1930) was an inventor in Birmingham, England during the late 19th century, and the founder in 1870 of J Hudson & Co, the maker of Acme whistles.

In 1883, Hudson entered a competition held by the Metropolitan Police force in London to design a better way of attracting people’s attention. They were seeking something with a distinctive a…