“Let’s You and Him Fight” is a 1934 Fleischer Popeye cartoon, in which the Sailor Man battles Bluto the Champ in a prize fight.  Note what happens at 3:32.

http://youtu.be/fz6X8g754oE#t=3m32s

Bluto is pummeling Popeye.  The bell rings.  The characters take a break.  The bell rings. The fight resumes.

Seems familiar?

In the Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog cartoons by Chuck Jones, the characters are blue collar workers ruled by the time clock.  When it whistles, Sam stops punishing  Ralph.  They take a break.  The clock whistles again, Sam resumes punishing Ralph.

As they do in “A Sheep in the Deep,” 1962, at 3:40:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo7JNvVTMf8#t=3m40s