What technological advancements led to the telegraph?

[jaerdaph]

An excellent source is James Burke's Connections, a documentary series (and books) that shows the progress of technology leading to many inventions, and shows that the path of invention isn't always as cut and dry as you might think, that many inventions are based on technological as well as socialological changes that in many instances are rather random, such as ancient coinage leading to the printing press.

I really enjoyed that series - everyone should watch it if they get the chance. James Burke is to technology what Joseph Campbell is to myth.

 

[Chaldfont]

I really enjoyed that series - everyone should watch it if they get the chance. James Burke is to technology what Joseph Campbell is to myth.

That series was great. Didn't he replicate a fax machine using semaphore?

 

[painandgreed]

If you want a long distance communication service in D&D why not use crystal balls?

What you need is something like a palantir, a crystal ball type magic item that allows communication between others like itself. Since it has a much more limited ability on what it could see than a crystal ball, it seems it would be much cheaper. Then charge 4 SP per minute to send messages (1 SP per ball and 1 SP for each wizard that is using it at either end). It would be much cheaper than constantly casting magical spells and possibly even cheaper than using a telegraph.

Telegraphs are going to require some serious wire drawing technologies which probably means there must be an industrial revolution to run the machines to do it. I would hate to think of trying to create a telegrpah wire over miles or even hundreds of yards by hand crafting wire in lengths of up to a few yards and then soldering or forging it together. perhaps dwarves coudl have a large fantasy machine that would be able to draw copper through the various dies and create a spool of continous wire.

 

[Janx]

Having raided old telegraph poles for parts...I can say Aluvial is on the right track.

The poles were spaced about 100 feet apart or so. They used copper wire, a heavy gauge. Glass insulators seperated the wire from the pole. The lines were run along railroad track. One reason is because the tracks went to where the people were, and the other is, because that's where the land was cleared to run the line. Mutual benefit for both train and wire.

Making a telegraph requires:
electricity (enough to maintain strength over distance)
electromagnet
logging industry
wire producing industry


In a D&D society, magical replacements like Sending or Message can be used. In my own campaign, I devised a magic crystal that was cheaper than a Crystal Ball. Ypu moved the crystal over the written text and it transmitted the message to another crystal, which would display the mesage on the top side of the crystal. So you had to be there to see the message come in. Each crystal was numbered and controlled by the "Circle of Magic" a government sponsored wizards guild. This formed a magical telegraph-like network. It also gave wizards an important role in society.


Janx

 

[Andor]

What is generally misunderstood in the development of telegraphic systems is that the electric telegraph was not the original telegraph system.

The first telegraph systems, from which the term "telegraph" is derived, were purely optical systems.

They consisted of towers, with mechanical arms. The arms held coded flags/boards, and were moved in a manner simular to pintaphor. The towers were spaced miles apart within line of sight of each other. The operators used telescopes to see the message that the other tower was sending, and then set their tower to relay the message to the next. In this manner messages could be transmitted much faster then by courier. France had an extensive coast to coast system that predated the invention of the electrical telegarphs by about 100 years. (you should check my facts here, I am quoting a TLC program from memory. I saw the program 2 years ago.)

Of course all you need is a mirror to make a heliograph. On the other hand the trouble with heliographs is they can be intercepted, which can lead to complications. For example:

A Code of Morals

Lest you should think this story true
I merely mention I
Evolved it lately. 'Tis a most
Unmitigated misstatement.

Now Jones had left his new-wed bride to keep his house in order,
And hied away to the Hurrum Hills above the Afghan border,
To sit on a rock with a heliograph; but ere he left he taught
His wife the working of the Code that sets the miles at naught.

And Love had made him very sage, as Nature made her fair;
So Cupid and Apollo linked , per heliograph, the pair.
At dawn, across the Hurrum Hills, he flashed her counsel wise --
At e'en, the dying sunset bore her husband's homilies.

He warned her 'gainst seductive youths in scarlet clad and gold,
As much as 'gainst the blandishments paternal of the old;
But kept his gravest warnings for (hereby the ditty hangs)
That snowy-haired Lothario, Lieutenant-General Bangs.

'Twas General Bangs, with Aide and Staff, who tittupped on the way,
When they beheld a heliograph tempestuously at play.
They thought of Border risings, and of stations sacked and burnt --
So stopped to take the message down -- and this is whay they learnt --

"Dash dot dot, dot, dot dash, dot dash dot" twice. The General swore.
"Was ever General Officer addressed as 'dear' before?
"'My Love,' i' faith! 'My Duck,' Gadzooks! 'My darling popsy-wop!'
"Spirit of great Lord Wolseley, who is on that mountain top?"

The artless Aide-de-camp was mute, the gilded Staff were still,
As, dumb with pent-up mirth, they booked that message from the hill;
For clear as summer lightning-flare, the husband's warning ran: --
"Don't dance or ride with General Bangs -- a most immoral man."

[At dawn, across the Hurrum Hills, he flashed her counsel wise --
But, howsoever Love be blind, the world at large hath eyes.]
With damnatory dot and dash he heliographed his wife
Some interesting details of the General's private life.

The artless Aide-de-camp was mute, the shining Staff were still,
And red and ever redder grew the General's shaven gill.
And this is what he said at last (his feelings matter not): --
"I think we've tapped a private line. Hi! Threes about there! Trot!"

All honour unto Bangs, for ne'er did Jones thereafter know
By word or act official who read off that helio.
But the tale is on the Frontier, and from Michni to Mooltan
They know the worthy General as "that most immoral man."

 

[Steverooo]

The theoretical guideposts leading to the telegraph seem the obstacle, to me. Lightning's electricity wasn't understood by Ben Franklin, and it took Coulomb to work out the electromagnetic charges, and Einstein to explain them... That brings you up to THIS CENTURY, and I don't believe that even WE have the whole story!

In order to even conceive of a telegraph, one must first understand that electricity FLOWS. A Wizard or Druid might, but it is a far leap from there, to a current flowing through a coil of wire producing a magnetic field, which attracts a piece of ferrous metal, and/or a coil of wire moving through a magnetic field inducing a current flow!

This is important because a telegraph uses current to cause the depression of a switch on one telegraph set to induce a magnetic field in the coil of wire on the other one. All of this must be powered, and that power has to come from somewhere, and voltaic cells (another invention) generally won't do it, over long distances. Generators, of the AC type, are generally required... Now what do we need to do THAT?!?

Besides all of the theoriticians (Volta, Coulomb, Franklin), the advances in mining, timbering, etc., you're now going to have AC power, too? I think this is going to be more than you wanted...

And if this knowledge exists, and your world is normal, then compasses certainly exist, and are in common usage. Understanding electromagnetism well enough to make telegraphs possible certainly implies understanding magnetism well enough to make a compass!

Now you can change the theory, and/or eliminate some of the generator problems by having some Wizard invent a leaden jar that holds the energy from a once/week Lightning Bolt, or some such, and simply some of these problems, but... If you eliminate steel, then how is the telegraph going to work without it? The coil won't attract the arm, and the 'graph won't work!

Best to simply invent a magically tied quartet of 'graphs, where, when one moves, the one connected to it (only via magic) also does. Two stations in line are connected to each other, and the previous station for the first/next station for the last. Each station has two each "To" and "From" telegraphs (one for each of the other two stations). Station One sends a message to Two, which comes in over the "From 1" 'graph. Station Two sends back the "ACK" signal on the "To 1" set, then repeats the message to Station Three via the "To 3" set, then waits for the "ACK" on the "From Three" set. It might even be possible to limit it to two sets that can both send/receive, or even one set, if the operators identify which station they're from, and which direction the messages are heading.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The first telegraph systems, from which the term "telegraph" is derived, were purely optical systems.

They consisted of towers, with mechanical arms. The arms held coded flags/boards, and were moved in a manner simular to pintaphor. The towers were spaced miles apart within line of sight of each other. The operators used telescopes to see the message that the other tower was sending, and then set their tower to relay the message to the next.

And the Romans had such a system 1500 years earlier.

Such towers are also a part of the Great Wall of China and related defensive structures.

And analogous systems developed all over the world. Native American smoke signals were quite effective, as were the "talking drums' of African and South American jungle/forest dwellers...and had the additional benefit of not requiring line of sight.

Making a telegraph requires:
electricity (enough to maintain strength over distance)
electromagnet
logging industry
wire producing industry

By the words in the rest of your post, you left one out: insulators. Be they rubber or glass or whatever, you need them.

Rubber is a plant byproduct, until you get petrochemically created artificial rubbers. Glass can be natural (Obsidian is a natural glass) but a more reliable source and purer glass is probably needed for insulating a telegraph system- thus you'll need a glassblowing industry. Remember that manmade glasses were a loooooong time in developing.

Just had a couple of new thoughts on this:

1) The viability of a telegraph in a fantasy world depends on which race you're designating as the inventors of the telegraph. Orcs & Humans- new, short lived races- are less likely. Elves and Dwarves- long lived races with extremely long histories & connections to magic and technology (respectively)- much more likely

2) The actual physical construction of a telegraph system may vary depending on the race doing the construction. Take Dwarves, for example. They might have an entirely subterranean telegraph, constructed by injecting molten copper into known, mined-out fissures.

3) Other materials may get used. Water, especially salt water, is also conductive, and water-filled glass lined tubes could be used in place of wire. Delicate? Yes. But those glass tubes could also be protected by nesting them in metal, stone or concrete.

Concrete? Yes- Concrete was used in the construction of the Roman Aqueducts, so I see no reason it can't show up in a fantasy game.