The Columbia Digital Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

From right here, the usage of the Heliograph having been given each precedence during the Anglo Boer Struggle, and its use broadly reported is overtaken by progress and the use of electrical telegraphy. Although circumstances would all the time dictate the Heliograph held a spot within signalling for many years to come electrical means were initially now regarded as probably the most dependable means of message transmission although the heliograph was not to fade from army use for another 60 years.

The heliograph was the invention of a British engineer who connected a mirror to surveying equipment so as to redirect a beam of light on distant factors. By way of the use of daylight, mirrors, and a keying system to interrupt the sign, flashes may very well be thrown on and off a receiving … Read the rest