Monday, November 11, 2019
Proper illustration of DuPillon
I should give this semaphore a writeup and animation, since I only slipped it into an older item before.
The DuPillon system was used by the French navy for coastal stations communicating with ships. This model is based on a DuPillon station at the tip of Normandy that was still operating in the 1930s, along with a radio beam.
DuPillon used a variation on the English two-arm system, not the Chappe wing system, but it was built with Chappe parts. The arms were louvered and counterweighted like Chappe wings.
The short third arm served as an advance alert to watchers, so they wouldn't miss part of the message; and the coastal stations added a cannon firing blanks** to guarantee that the ships were paying attention! (Something like the railroad torpedo placer alarm.)
I wouldn't have modeled this device for its mechanism, since it was derivative; but the building and the ocean setting were too beautiful to neglect.
= = = = =
Links to the illustrations so far:
Russian 1850s
Chappe clock system and wing system
Dupillon (French) [I snuck this into an older item without properly describing it]
Six shutter (English)
More discussion of Chappe
Chatley (English)
Redo of Russian
Redo of DuPillon (this item)
= = = = =
**Later thought: The coastal stations could have skipped the semaphore and sent Morse-like code with the cannon. Big cannon and little cannon for dashes and dots.
DuPillon used a variation on the English two-arm system, not the Chappe wing system, but it was built with Chappe parts. The arms were louvered and counterweighted like Chappe wings.
The short third arm served as an advance alert to watchers, so they wouldn't miss part of the message; and the coastal stations added a cannon firing blanks** to guarantee that the ships were paying attention! (Something like the railroad torpedo placer alarm.)
I wouldn't have modeled this device for its mechanism, since it was derivative; but the building and the ocean setting were too beautiful to neglect.
= = = = =
Links to the illustrations so far:
Russian 1850s
Chappe clock system and wing system
Dupillon (French) [I snuck this into an older item without properly describing it]
Six shutter (English)
More discussion of Chappe
Chatley (English)
Redo of Russian
Redo of DuPillon (this item)
= = = = =
**Later thought: The coastal stations could have skipped the semaphore and sent Morse-like code with the cannon. Big cannon and little cannon for dashes and dots.
Labels: defensible times, Morsenet of Things
¶ 9:03 AM
