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KF5JRV > TECH 25.04.16 13:27l 19 Lines 917 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 2034_KF5JRV
Read: GUEST
Subj: Hydraulic Telegraph
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<GB7CIP<N0KFQ<KF5JRV
Sent: 160425/1119Z 2034@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ1.4.65
The Hydraulic Telegraph 350 BCE
According to Polybius, a Greek historian of the Hellenistic
period, Aeneas Tacticus, one of the earliest Greek writers
on the art of war, invented the hydraulic telegraph about 350 BCE. It
was a semaphore system used during the First Punic War to
send messages between Sicily and Carthage.
"The system involved identical containers on separate hills; each container
would be filled with water, and a vertical rod floated within. The rods were
inscribed with various predetermined codes.
"To send a message, the sending operator would use a torch to signal
the receiving operator; once the two were synchronized, they would
simultaneously open the spigots at the bottom of their containers.
Water would drain out until the water level reached the desired code,
at which point the sender would lower his torch, and the operators
would simultaneously close their spigots."
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