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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 ...
He invented a signaling system using a flag (or a kerosene torch for nighttime use) that is known as wig-wag signaling, or aerial telegraphy. Unlike semaphore flag signaling , which employed two flags, signal wig-wag required only one, using a binary code to represent each letter of the alphabet or digit.
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.
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 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 ...
One of the roots of the Signal Corps, going back to Albert Myer's wig-wag flags, was the observation of enemy forces and reporting their position. In 1893 Chief Signal Officer Greely purchased a balloon [50] and began instructing signal officers as to its use as an observation platform at the signal school at Fort Riley, Kansas. [51]
While serving as a medical officer in Texas in 1856, Albert James Myer proposed that the Army use his visual communications system, called aerial telegraphy (or "wig-wag"). When the Army adopted his system on 21 June 1860, the Signal Corps was born with Myer as the first and only Signal Officer. [3] Click photo to enlarge for history of the wigwag.
Wigwag (railroad), a type of railroad grade crossing signal; Wigwag (flag signals), a type of flag signal; Wig-wag (sound stage), a red light indicating filming is in progress; Wig-wag (automobile), headlight flasher; Wig wag (truck braking systems), a mechanical arm indicating low brake pressure