The Early History of Data Networks by Gerard J. Holzmann and Bjorn Pehrson.
Book review from CCR: here.
Available from amazon.com
Most of us would consider the emergence of large-scale
communication networks to be a twentieth-century phenomenon.
The first true nationwide data networks, however,
were being built almost two hundred years ago.
At the turn of the 18th century, well before the
electromagnetic telegraph was invented, many countries
in Europe already had fully operational data
communications systems, with alltogether close
to one thousand network stations.
This book gives a fascinating glimpse of the many
documented attempts throughout history to develop
effective means for long distance communications.
The oldest attempts date back to millenia before
Christ, and include an ingenious uses of homing
pigeons, mirrors, flags, torches, and beacons.
The book then shows how Claude Chappe, a French
clergyman, started the information revolution in
1794, with the design and construction of the
first true telegraph network in France.
Included is also the first complete English
translation of a remarkable document on the
design of optical telegraphs that was written
in 1796 by the Swedish nobleman Abraham Niclas
Edelcrantz, the builder of the Swedish optical
telegraph network.
It is hard to imagine what daily life must have been like
two centuries ago, without radios, movies, telephones,
or electricity.
Marconi, Edison, Bell and Maxwell had not yet been born,
and neither had their parents.
The streets in the larger cities were lit by candles.
In New York, for example, a city ordinance had been in
effect since 1697:
An eyewitness described the dress code in 1789,
when George Washington was sworn in as the first president
of the United States, as follows:
James Watt's work is well known.
His improved steam engine designs gave a decisive push to
the industrial revolution.
The names of Chappe and Edelcrantz, however, are not nearly as well known,
even though they had an equally revolutionary impact on society.
In the eighteenth century they managed to develop the world's first nationwide
data communications networks.
Let us go back to September 1794.
Imagine Abraham Niclas Edelcrantz, a Swedish nobleman and scholar,
in his library in the center of Stockholm, say in front of a nice big fireplace.
He is reading Gentleman's Magazine.
The September 1794 issue of this journal contained a report
on a new French contraption that caught Edelcrantz's attention.
This is, in part, what Edelcrantz read:
Edelcrantz began experimenting with his own optical telegraph designs
the month that the article was published.
Two months later he was able to demonstrate a first working version.
Edelcrantz's first design still looked much like Chappe's,
with articulated arms and flaps.
Edelcrantz would later, after many experiments, switch to a
shutter telegraph design that is similar to one of the first designs
that Chappe had used in 1791 and 1792 and abandoned.
There is no indication that Edelcrantz knew about these earlier
experiments of Claude Chappe at this time.
Why Chappe rejected the shutter principle and replaced it with
semaphore arms, and Edelcrantz rejected the semaphore arms and
replaced it with shutters is a mystery.
Both designs were quite successful, and received much following.
For almost half a century, optical telegraphs became part of the
landscape in Europe.
They can be spotted in the background of many paintings from this period.
They are also mentioned, at least in passing, in several
novels and poems.
Victor Hugo (1802-1885), for instance, wrote a long
poem called Le Telegraphe.
The Swedish poet Elias Sehlstedt dedicated a collection of poems
to the optical telegraph,
titled Telegrafen--Poetisk Kalender for 1858.
The telegraphs also feature prominently in
Stendhal's Lucien Leuwen, which was first published in 1842.
The following passage appears in The Count of
Monte Cristo, published in 1844:
The first chapter gives an overview of the attempts made
throughout history to come up with effective methods for
long-distance communication.
Apart from the more obvious courier and beacon systems,
remarkably sophisticated devices were developed, in some
cases more than two thousand years ago.
In the second chapter we look at Claude Chappe's struggle to build a
communications network in the late eighteenth century in France.
The third chapter tells the story of Edelcrantz's attempts in Sweden to
accomplish the same goal.
Edelcrantz documented his design in a wonderful
booklet called Treatise on Telegraphs that was first published in 1796.
Almost immediately after its publication, the document was translated
into French and German, but for some reason, it was never translated
into English.
Chapter Four contains our translation, which gives a glimpse of the world
of a serious eighteenth century scholar attacking a twentieth century problem.
In Chapter Five we take a closer look at the developments in some
of the other countries, both in Europe and elsewhere.
In most countries similar optical telegraph lines were built, though
not quite on the same scale as in Sweden and France.
Chapter Six concludes the book with a comparison of Chappe's and
Edelcrantz's system and a brief look at the contributions that
they each made to the art of signaling.
Three appendices contain
documents on Chappe's and Edelcrantz's designs.
Appendix A reproduces three letters that appeared in late 1794 in
Gentleman's Magazine, recording the first
reactions to Chappe's experiments from earlier that year.
Appendix B has the instructions and regulations for the French
optical telegraphs.
Appendix C gives the station instructions and
a penal code for the Swedish design.
The words telegraph, telescope, and semaphore,
used throughout this book, have a Greek origin, though they are not
part of the original language.
Tele means ``at a distance,'' graphos means ``writer'' or
``signaler,'' and skopos means ``watcher'' or ``observer.''
Sema means ``sign'' or ``symbol,'' and phoros
means ``bearer'' or ``carrier.''
Telescopes were invented in 1608 (see Chapter 1);
the words telegraph and semaphore first entered the language in the late
eighteenth century (Chapter 2), as a result of the experiments that we
will describe.
The distance metrics in use today are considerably younger than
many of the sources that we refer to in this book.
In 1794 Swedish, French, German, and English miles
all represented different lengths.
Wherever possible, we use the metric system here,
occasionally with the equivalent in U.S. (i.e., English) miles in parentheses.
In all other cases, the distances are disambiguated with a country prefix.
For reference, the relevant conversions are listed in the table
of distance metrics shown above.
This book is the product of many years of
enjoyable sleuthing into the history of communication systems.
We have been helped by many wonderful people along the way, and
it is a true pleasure to acknowledge them here.
They include:
Our objective has been to provide an account that is both accurate and readable.
To convince ourselves of the accuracy, we checked and double-checked every fact,
by going back to the original sources where available.
Nonetheless, it is possible that we have missed important details.
We would be grateful to any reader who can correct the story, or add to it.
It was our privilege to present an early edition of this book
to King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden on 22 June 1994, at the bicentennial
celebration of the first experiments with optical telegraphs in Sweden.
Synopsis
Table of Contents
Preface vii
Chapter One -- Torches and Beacons
Chapter Two -- Claude Chappe
Chapter Three -- Abraham N. Edelcrantz
Chapter Four -- A Treatise on Telegraphs (from 1796)
Chapter Five -- Other Countries
Chapter Six -- About Invention
Appendix A -- Letters to Gentleman's Magazine
Appendix B -- Chappe's Design
Appendix C -- Edelcrantz's Design
Illustrations 241
Notes 245
Bibliography 273
Index 281
Colophon 291-304
Preface
. . . that the lights be hung out in the darke time
of the moon within this citty, and for the use of the inhabitants;
and that every 7th house doe hang out a lanthorn and a candle in it.
Mail was delivered by stagecoach in the United States, and by merchant vessels
and mounted couriers throughout most of Europe.
This system operated quite efficiently, also by today's standards.
A letter or newspaper took only a few days to travel from London to Stockholm,
and to get a piece of mail delivered within one of the larger cities took just hours.
It was not unusual to extend a dinner invitation by regular mail in
the morning, and to receive the response well in time to make the
final preparations for that day.
There stood Washington, invested with a suit of dark silk velvet, of the
old cut, steel-hilted small-sword by his side, hair in a bag and full powdered,
in black silk hose, and shoes with silver buckles, as he took the oath of office.
This was the time of chamber music, of horse-drawn carriages,
the time of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, of Gauss and Fourier,
and the time of James Watt, Claude Chappe, and Abraham Edelcrantz.
. . . a method to acquaint people at a great distance, and in
very little time, with whatever one pleased.
This method is as follows: let persons be placed in several
stations, at such distances from each other, that, by the help
of a telescope, a man in one station may see a signal made by
the next before him; he immediately repeats this signal, which
is again repeated through all the intermediate stations.
This, with considerable improvements, has been adopted by the French,
and denominated a Telegraphe; and, from the utility of the
invention, we doubt not but it will be soon introduced in this
country.
The invention was attributed to Claude Chappe.
The machines are the invention of Citizen Chappe, and were
constructed before his own eyes; he directs their establishment at Paris.
The letter in Gentleman's Magazine described the
telegraph that Chappe had developed for the construction
of an optical telegraph line connecting Lille to Paris,
over a distance of roughly 230 km (143 miles).
The line was, by any standard, the first of its kind, and
news of its construction was spreading quickly through Europe.
``Thank you,'' said Monte Cristo, ``and now, please allow
me to take leave of you. I'm about to go see something which has often
made me thoughtful for hours on end.''
``What is it?''
``A telegraph. I was almost ashamed to say it, but now you know.''
``A telegraph ?'' repeated Madame de Villefort.
``Yes, that's right. I've often seen those black shining arms
rising from the top of a hill or at the end of a road, and it has
never been without emotion for me, for I've always thought of those
strange signs cleaving the air for three hundred leagues to carry
thoughts of one man sitting at his desk to another man sitting at his
desk at the other end of the line.
It has always made me think of genii, sylphs or gnomes; in short, of
occult powers, and that amuses me.
Then one day I learned that the operator of each telegraph is only
some poor devil employed for twelve hundred francs a year, constantly
occupied in watching another telegraph four or five leagues away.
I then became curious to see that living chrysalis at close quarters and
watch the comedy he plays for the other chrysalis by pulling on his strings.
``What telegraph are you going to visit ?'' asked Villefort.
``Which line would you advise me to study ?''
``Why, the one that's the busiest now, I suppose.''
``That would be the line from Spain, wouldn't it ?''
``Yes. But you'd better hurry; it will be dark in two hours and
you won't be able to see anything.''
``Thank you,'' said Monte Cristo. ``I'll tell you about my impressions
when I see you Saturday.''
Monte Cristo proceeds to bribe a telegraph operator to transmit
a false message to Paris.
How likely or unlikely this might have been will become clear in
the following chapters.
Overview
When optical telegraphs were superseded by electrical telegraphs,
much of their history was forgotten.
Today, at the bicentennial of the optical telegraphs, we would like to
look back, and record the fascinating story of their discovery and use.
Distance Metrics
======================================
Unit Feet Meters
______________________________________
Swedish Mile 32,577 10,689
German Mile 25,000 7,620
French Mile 14,000 4,267
English (U.S.) Mile 5,280 1,609
League 15,840 4,827
Km 3,280 1,000
Fathom 6 1.83
Ell 1.948 0.594
Cubit 1.72 0.52
______________________________________
Stephane Baier,
Jon Bentley,
Bertil Bage,
M. Blanloeil,
Pierre Bosom,
Jan Brans,
Warren Burstein,
Andre Butrica,
Rosa Busquets,
Lynne Bush,
Patrice Carre,
John Chaves,
Lorinda Cherry,
Gerard Contant,
Dan Doernberg,
Richard Drechsler,
Maija Elo,
Terje Ellefsen,
Ari Epstein,
Patrik Ernberg,
Patrice Godefroid,
Johan Goudsblom,
Ron Hardin,
Catherine Harris,
Jay B. Haviser,
Richard Q. Hofacker Jr.,
Lars Johannesson,
M. Katz,
Brian W. Kernighan,
Srinivasan Keshav,
Olga Lopez,
Erik Ludwig,
Jim Mais,
M. Marchand,
M. Douglas McIlroy,
A. Beate Oestreicher,
Helly Oestreicher,
Nils Olander,
Michel Ollivier,
Judith A. Paone,
Robert M. Papp,
Craig Partridge,
Rob Pike,
Pilar Prieto,
Marty Rabinowitz,
Jim Reeds,
Frank Reichert,
Dennis M. Ritchie,
C. van Romburgh,
Johan Romstad (owner of the telegraph house in Furusund),
Nelly Roussel,
Carl-Erik Sundberg,
Maureen Tate (Language Center New York),
Teller,
Chris Wagner,
John Wait,
Phil Winterbottom,
Jan Zwijnenberg,
and of course the many dedicated researchers at
the libraries, archives, and museums we visited in
Amsterdam,
Barcelona,
Brulon,
Grenoble,
La Flêche,
London,
Nantes,
New York,
Paris,
Pleumeur Bodou,
Sacramento,
San Francisco,
Stockholm,
The Hague,
and Uppsala.