EDELCRANTZ, ABRAHAM NICLAS [PRIOR TO HIS ENNOBLEMENT IN1789 CLEWBERG]
AFHANDLING OM TELEGRAPHER OCH FÖRSÖK TIL EN NY INRÄTTNING DÄRAF.
Stockholm, Johan Pehr Lindh, 1795 - 1796.
8vo. 96 pp. + one folding table (Telegraphisk Chiffre-Tabell, dated 1795) + 5 folding engraved plates.
¶ First edition of Edelcrantz's treatise on his optical telegraph, "a considerable advance compared to the French system of Chappe"(Ekelöf). Edelcrantz introduced the system of mechanically operated semaphores to Sweden, and designed the first Swedish telegraph line between Stockholm and Drottningholm in 1794. Edelcrantz's optical telegraph was employed in Sweden until the early 1880s.
The book was translated into French in 1801 (Traité des Télégraphes et essai d'un nouvel établissement de ce genre) and German in 1802 (Abhandlung über Telegraphen und ein Versuch zu einer neuen Einrichtung derselben).
The term telegraph was first applied to the optical telegraph system designed by the brothers Claude and Ignace Chappe, erected by the revolutionary government of France beginning in 1794, and expanded under Napoleon and subsequent regimes. The low bandwidth of these telegraphs, their restriction to daylight use, and their dependence on clear weather limited their usefulness.
SBL, 12, p. 60. Ekelöf, Catalogue of books and papers relating to the history of electrical engineering (1982), pp. 31 & 252.Contemporary grey boards.
· EDL43197 · Olof Edlund, Årsta (SE) ·
|