Object data
wood, brass, rope and paper
telegraph: height 51.7 cm × width 62 cm × depth 2.4 cm
code: height 15.5 cm × width 18.3 cm × depth 1 cm
anonymous, anonymous
Model of an Optical Telegraph
United Kingdom, Netherlands, United Kingdom, c. 1795 - c. 1816
Inscriptions
- label, on the wooden board: 814 former inventory label
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-814
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an optical shutter telegraph with code table.
The telegraph consists of a square wooden board with five different sawn-out shapes that are set in one line and can be covered by sliding the wooden shutters vertically. Their movement is controlled by means of weights in the jambs at the sides.
The code table, drawn in ink, is supplied twice: once on paper pasted on to the bottom of the telegraph board, the other on a separate board, painted white. It shows the combinations of signs for the letters of the alphabet.
According to Obreen this telegraph is a British design.1
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 814; G. Wilson, The Old Telegraphs, London 1976, pp. 11-63; E. Ludwig, Beschrijvingen van de telegraafmodellen in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam, s.l. 1992, manuscript in RMA, folder NG-MC-810/825 (telegrafen)
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous or anonymous, Model of an Optical Telegraph, c. 1795 - c. 1816', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244628
(accessed 23 November 2024 16:24:14).