Talk:Telegraphy

Telegraph Exchanges

Some material I am suggesting be added.

In A Century in Print London: Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd (1939) by Keefe, H. J., on pp. 82–83 Keefe writes (emphasis mine),

Mr. Dunn remembers that the Firm's Strand branch possessed a facility which may be described in his own words: “One day in 1875, when I was alone in the office, the bell of the private telegraph to the Head Office in Charles Street rang. The pointer on the dial spelt out the message, ‘Mr. Hazell wishes to see Mr. Dunn at once.’ I wired back, ‘O.K.,’ and left to hear that I was to return to the Head Office in a new capacity.”

From this we see that business firms had an equivalent to the telephone a good many years before Bell invented it. The instrument linking 265 Strand and 28 Charles Street from 1873 to 1880 was Wheatstone's A.B.C. Telegraph, which any child able to spell could use. In the case of Hazell's, it seems to have been merely a private wire, but subscribers could, if desired, be linked to an exchange, and thus communicate with other firms or individuals. This switchboard system was in existence as early as 1869, possibly earlier, and when the telephone came on the scene, Wheatstone’s A.B.C. switchboards, where available, were adapted to form telephone exchanges.

I do not see any mention anywhere within Wikipedia of telegraph exchanges; nor does a quick Google search turn anything up. I quoted the text of the book here as there is--at this time--no electronic copy of the book that I may reference.

On a related note, this Telegraphy page does not mention the A.B.C Telegraph mentioned in the quoted text. There is however a very nice write-up on the device on the Museums Victoria Australia website: https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/1798

Christopher Rath (talk) 00:42, 1 December 2023 (UTC)

History: Early Signalling

This section mentions signals, lights, and curiously, "gunshots" as an option, but is not cited. If some form of gunpowder explosion was used in the period mentioned in China, it would be inappropriate to call it a "gunshot" as there's no true shot being fired. This needs revision or to have the reference to gunshots removed. 129.24.93.211 (talk) 18:35, 1 November 2024 (UTC)

Gunshots in the Han Dynasty?

The article says that in the Han Dynasty, messages could be sent by gunshots. How is this possible if guns were invented in the 10th century, and gunpowder in the 9th? פֿינצטערניש (Fintsternish), she/her (talk) 20:27, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

Yeah, wait. That doesn't scan. Taking a look, thanks for pointing this out—I see it was also mentioned above, but I didn't see it unfortunately. Remsense ‥ 论 20:38, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

This is actually directly attested in the source, but it must be a case of sloppy writing:

By the time of the Han dynasty (200 BCE–220 CE), segments of the wall included more signaling towers than had earlier portions. ... The towers could use any of six different kinds of signaling techniques and predetermined codes (using lights, flag patterns, gunshots), depending on time of day and local conditions. By the Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), messages could be sent up to 700 miles within one day and night.

I'll try to find another source that confirms what I suspect—that the bit about signalling methods was meant generally, not specifically the Han period—but if I can't I'll reword it. Remsense ‥ 论 20:51, 8 February 2025 (UTC)

There we go, I think that's satisfactory? Remsense ‥ 论 21:33, 8 February 2025 (UTC)