1-158-236 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Claude Chappe demonstrating his optical telegraph (semaphore) system in 1793 (c1870). Chappe's (1763-1805) system was in use in France and French colonies until about 1850. Every 5 to 10 miles men in a repeater tower read the message through a telescope, then relayed it to the next tower. From Les Merveilles de la Science by Louis Figuier. (Paris, c1870).