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The wigwag system was invented in the 1850s by US Army surgeon Albert J. Myer who became the first Chief Signal Officer of the US Army in command of the Signal Corps. Wigwag was used extensively by both sides in the American Civil War , where it was an essential adjunct to electrical telegraphy , and continued to see use in both America and ...
Wig-wag signaling was performed during daylight with a single flag tied to a hickory staff constructed in four-foot jointed sections. Flags were generally made of cotton, linen, or another lightweight fabric and were issued in the following sizes: [15] Standard Issue Civil War Signal Corps Kit, complete with flags and torches.
Albert James Myer (September 20, 1828 – August 24, 1880) was a surgeon and United States Army general. He is known as the father of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, as its first chief signal officer just prior to the American Civil War, the inventor of wig-wag signaling (or aerial telegraphy), and also as the father of the U.S. Weather Bureau.
A Magnetic flagman wigwag signal in use in southern Oregon, June 2007. Wigwag is a nickname for a type of railroad grade crossing signal once common in North America, referring to its pendulum-like motion that signaled a train's approach.
A typical US Signal Corps guidon features wig-wag flags. In the 1850s, U.S. Army Major Albert J. Myer, a surgeon by training, developed a system using left or right movements of a flag (or torch or lantern at night). Myer's system used a single flag, waved back and forth in a binary code conceptually similar to the Morse code of dots and dashes ...
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The Magnetic Signal Company was an American company based in Los Angeles, California, focused on railway signalling. The company was the manufacturer of the ubiquitous "Magnetic Flagman" wigwag railroad crossing (or level crossing ) signal, seen all over California and the western states.
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