Hot Water Pot -- boiling alarms?

An old school hack.

A pot minder or boil alert is a small, metal disc that sits in a pot of water or other liquid. Once the liquid in the pot starts to boil, the disc rattles against the sides of the pot, letting the user know that the water is fully boiling. This audible rattle helps take the guesswork out of a boiling pot for a visually impaired cook. It is also known as a milk watcher, milk saver, pot watcher, milk guard, or boil over preventer.
Independent Living Aids
+1

I have an ordinary pot that whistles when it boils. Yesterday it got rambunctious and somehow flipped its lid upside down. Likely due to applying too much heat.

Pot-minder sounds familiar, thanks. "Boil alert" sounds far too modern for the 1950's.

We had a whistling pot for many years, but lately the shrillness of the whistle hurts our ears (we are NOT getting old, we are getting more ... attuned). It sounds less like a whistle and more like a squeal! When our granddaughter visits, it frightens her into running to shut the stove off.

Rather than purchase a new "quieter" pot (which seems to contradict the purpose for having a whistling kettle), my wife asked me if there was another plain water kettle in the house. I went to the downstairs kitchen (yeah, we have 2 kitchens) and found the old one from more than 20 years back, when I used to boil a big pot of water for 15 to 20 students to have tea after training.

We both like it, but we still need a reminder that there is a pot of water boiling on the stove. I put a spoon inside (didn't bother cutting off the handle) and that seems to work fine. Not overloud and disruptive, but enough clatter to bring attention to the full boil.

Pot-minder. Yes, I think that was it.