A great book to read about early visual com systems is "The Victorian
Internet"
By Tom Standage.

--
CL -- I doubt, therefore I might be !






wrote in message
...
So,if you want emergency communications up to a distance of about three
miles,just fly a kite.Jigging a kite up and down could be something like
Morse Code or Semiphore and using binoculars or telescopes for more than
three miles viewing.Perhaps the Indians had it figured out first with
their smoke signals and tom tom drums.How come the old Railroad tracks
couldn't have been used for electronic communicating? Send signals on
one side of the tracks,receive signals on the other side of the
tracks,pieces of wire could have been used to bridge across the open
gaps of the rails.
cuhulin