Object data
wood, brass, rope, reed and textile
height 110.2 cm × width 32.5 cm × depth 32 cm
anonymous
Model of an Optical Telegraph
Netherlands, Netherlands, c. 1830
Provenance
...; transferred from the Ministerie van Marine (Department of the Navy), The Hague, to the museum, 1883
Object number: NG-MC-823
Copyright: Public domain
Entry
Model of an optical telegraph, mounted on a square base.
A mast is raised on a pedestal, with shrouds running to the corners of the base. The mast has three brass yards with round screens made of plaited reed at the ends. These can be set in either a horizontal or a vertical position by means of handles at the base. At the top of the mast, is a flagpole with the Dutch tricolour.
The telegraph designed by Anton Lipkens (1782-1847) could transmit 63 signals. It was cheap, effective and easily positioned on any tall building. A line of Lipkens’ telegraphs was used from 1831 to 1839, enabling communication between the towns of The Hague, Breda and Den Bosch, and was extended in 1832 by a line from Breda to the port of Flushing, which split at Bath to Fort Lillo near Antwerp. Lipkens’ telegraph was inspired by the 1795 design by Lord George Murray.
Scale unknown.
Literature
J.M. Obreen, Catalogus der verzameling modellen van het Departement van Marine, The Hague 1858, no. 823; E.A.B.J. ten Brink and C.W.L. Schell, Geschiedenis van de Rijkstelegraaf 1852-1952, The Hague 1954, pp. 10-14, fig. 7; R. Korving, ‘De optische telegraaf van Chappe’, Erfgoed van Industrie en Techniek 2 (1993), no. 1, pp. 2-11; C.C.P. van Romburgh, ‘De revolutionaire verreschrijver’, in H. Stevens (ed.), The Art of Technology: The Navy Model Collection in the Amsterdam Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam/Wormer 1995, pp. 30-33; R. Korving and B. van der Herten, Een tijding met de snelheid des bliksems. De optische telegraaf in de Nederlanden (1800-1850), Alphen aan den Rijn 1997, pp. 74-85; A.J. Hoving, Message in a Model: Stories from the Navy Model Room of the Rijksmuseum, Florence, OR 2013, pp. 128-31
Citation
J. van der Vliet, 2016, 'anonymous, Model of an Optical Telegraph, Netherlands, c. 1830', in J. van der Vliet and A. Lemmers (eds.), Navy Models in the Rijksmuseum, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.244637
(accessed 20 September 2024 20:47:28).