9 Nov
2006
9 Nov
'06
7:10 a.m.
I wonder if there were any electrically-operated
semaphore stations around
which pre-date wired telegraphy? Most countries had networks of optical
semaphores which could of course route a message (the original idea seems
to
have cropped up in the 1600's) - but to my
knowledge they were all manual
and
only operable in daylight, despite electricity being
available long before
the
last ones closed (mid 1800's I think). However it
seems strange if the
transition was made straight to wired telegraphy with no intermediate
system
using electric light.
Well, I'd say that the reason is pretty simple; there was no electric
light..., nor motors to run semaphores. The telegraph was the first
incarnation of electrical signaling because it was the simplest, most basic
of electrical devices. In fact, it was the first electrical device deployed
on any scale. While we think of it as crude, it in fact required
considerable engineering skill to refine.
John