Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 18.djvu/195

* SIGNALING AND TELEGRAPHING. 157 SIGNALS. lines or for working a regular wire under adverse conditions. The Signal Corps has also a special pattern of service telephone, which is constructed so as to withstand rough usage in transit. The telephone is also supplied in a portable form for field use, while for special use on telegraph lines tliore is an instrument known as the Kussell cut- in telephone, which is very portable and can be used in the field with great facility. With the telephone is used a special form of cart constructed of bic3'cle tubing and 30- inch bicycle wheels with heavy cushion rubber tires. The cart is filled with an auto- matic spooling device for reeling up the out- post cable and carries five reels of cable and one reel knapsack for use in places where the cart cannot penetrate owing to underbrush, etc. As the extreme width of the cart, measured at the wheels, is only 26 inches, it can follow any ordi- nary path through the underbrush. The weight of the cart complete with spooling device, but without reels, is only 53 pounds ; wlien loaded with reels and reel knapsack the total weight is 157 [lounds. The cart is well balanced upon its axle by a device which permits the point of sup- port to be changed to balance the cart as the distribution of weight is changed by the cable being run out. In connection with the reel cart a telephone kit is used, and by attaching the double connector of the kit to one on the frame of the cart the telephone is kept in circuit and conversation can be kept up with the home sta- tion. The cart with its load can be easity drawn by one man, and b3' its use it is possible to con- nect outposts with the main guard or brigade with regimental headquarters, or brigade with division headquarters, in a few minutes of time. Signal balloons now form a part of the equip- ment of all armies. In the United States service the}' are operated by the Signal Corps. Several successful ascents were made during the Santi- ago campaign of the Spcinish-Ar.'.criraii V.'ar of 1898. For reconnoitring purposes balloons are recognized as a niilitarj' necessity. Information is transmitted from the captive balloon by tele- grajih or telephone, the wire being reeled off during the ascent. From balloons photographs of the enemy's country, defenses, and communica- tions may also be taken by the use of telephoto- lenses. Balloons for military reconnaissance should be of at least 18,000 cubic feet capacity. Gas for inflation is generally carried compi'essed in steel cylinders. See Aergn.^utics. Wireless telegraphy is now an important sub- ject of experiment for purposes of military signaling. The Signal Corps of the United States Army has perfected its own system and has in successful operation stations in San Francisco Harbor and elsewhere. See Wireless Telegr.^piiy. Consult: Myer, A Manual of fiiflnals (Washington, Government Printing Of- fice, 1879) ; Instructions for Using the IJelio- graph of the Signal Corps, U. S. Army (ib., 1894) : Instruction for Signaling. United States Navy, 1898 (ib.. 1898). See Signals, Mabine; Army Organization. SIGNALS, International. See Signals, Marine, and accompanying Colored Plate. SIGNALS, Marine. Marine signals now in current use may be divided into three classes: (a) Day signals, (b) night signals, and (c) day and night signals. Day signals consist of set combinations of flags or shapes, moving com- binations of arms or shapes, or tlie waving of shapes or flags. The use of flags of various shapes is wide-spread, and is of ancient origin; the Venetians used such signals, and there is good reason to believe that simple signals of this sort were used in very ancient times. In 1856 the British Government devised a system of sig- naling by flags which has been adopted by all maritime nations. It formerly consisted of thir- teen square flags, five triangular pennants, and a swallow-tail flag. One of the pennants was the cade pennant; the other pennants and flags were assigned to the consonants of the alphabet from b to w. On January, 1901, by international agreement, a new code went into effect. It con- sists of nineteen square flags, two swallow-tail flags, and five pennants besides the code or an- swering pennant. These are assigned (except the code pennant) to the different letters of the alphabet. The flags and pennants of the old code are retained with few changes, the new ones being additional to cover the vowels and x and z. The flags and pennants are hoisted singly or in combinations of one, two, three, or four. One-flag signals are important in character and much used; two-flag signals are urgent and important; three-flag signals include all ordinary messages; four-flag signals signify geographical positions (seaports, islands, bays, etc.), alphabetical spell- ing tables, and vessels' distinguishing numbers. The signification of each combination of flags is the same in all languages, each combination stand- ing for a complete message, a sentence, a phrase, or a single word. A vessel using a signal book printed in English can connnunicate with a ves- sel using a book printed in Italian as easily as with one using an English book. The spelling table may be used between ves- .sels having books printed in languages using Roman characters. The American edition of the international signal code is published by the Hydrographie Office of the Navy Department, and is divided into three parts. The first con- tains urgent and important signals, signals for tables of money, weights, etc., for geographic positions (arranged geographically), and a table of phrases formed with auxiliary verbs. The second part, which includes more than half the book, is an index. It consists of a general vocabulary and a geographical index, each al- phiibetically arranged. The third part gives lists of the United States storm-warning, life- saving, and time-signal stations, and of Lloyd's signal stations throughout the world ; it also contains semaphore and distant signal codes and the United States Army and Navy and Morse wig- wag codes. In the United States Navy the general code consists of ten rectangular flags, corresponding to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9; also a number of special flags, pennants, etc. In most other navies the flags of the international code are utilized. The use of shapes is common for distant sig- nals, as the colors and patterns of flags cannot be determined with certainty beyond two or three miles. These shapes are cones, balls, and drums, supplemented with a square flag and a pennant. The placing of movable arms in certain positions is termed semaphore signaling. Devices for sem- aphore signaling have been in use for iome