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There are two main types of such systems; the semaphore telegraph which uses pivoted indicator arms and conveys information according to the direction the indicators point, and the shutter telegraph which uses panels that can be rotated to block or pass the light from the sky behind to convey information.
The word telegraph (from Ancient Greek: τῆλε 'at a distance' and γράφειν 'to write') was coined by the French inventor of the semaphore telegraph, Claude Chappe, who also coined the word semaphore. [2] A telegraph is a device for transmitting and receiving messages over long distances, i.e., for telegraphy. The word telegraph alone ...
The Chappe telegraph was a French semaphore telegraph system invented by Claude Chappe in the early 1790s. The system was composed of towers placed every 5 to 15 kilometers. Coded messages were sent from tower to tower, with transmission being handled by tower operators using specially designed telescopes.
Today, in order to distinguish it from subsequent telegraph systems, the French name for Chappe's semaphore telegraph system is named after him, and thus is known as a Telegraph Chappe. [6] Alternatively, Chappe coined the phrase semaphore , [ 7 ] from the Greek elements σῆμα (sêma, "sign"); and from φορός (phorós, "carrying"), [ 8 ...
Napoleonic semaphore line. In 1792 Claude Chappe, a clergyman from France, invented a terrestrial semaphore telegraph, which uses pivoted indicator arms and conveys information according to the direction the indicators point and was popular in the late eighteenth to early nineteenth centuries.
A replica of one of Claude Chappe's semaphore towers (optical telegraph) in Nalbach, Germany. The history of telecommunication began with the use of smoke signals and drums in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. In the 1790s, the first fixed semaphore systems emerged in Europe.
A replica of a Chappe telegraph tower (18th century). A 'semaphore telegraph', also called a 'semaphore line', 'optical telegraph', 'shutter telegraph chain', 'Chappe telegraph', or 'Napoleonic semaphore', is a system used for conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting arms or shutters, also known as blades or paddles.
The Prussian semaphore system was a telegraphic communications system used between Berlin and the Rhine Province from 1832 to 1849. [1] It could transmit administrative and military messages by optical signal over a distance of nearly 550 kilometres (340 mi).