The Dead Media Notebook (16 page)

“Like the American army, the British did not have a separate Signal Corps organization until the 1860s. The first British signal school was established at Chatham in 1865. Shortly after, a young officer named Henry Christopher Mance (1840-1926) became interested in signalling with the sun. Mance, later to be knighted for his achievements in engineering, knew of the use of mirror instruments called heliotropes in the triangulation of India. The Indian survey, one of the great engineering projects of the nineteenth century, required accurate location of high mountain peaks to serve as control points fot the ground survey. Bright fire pots were used at night and the heliotropes by day. It is not know whether any Morse code signalling was done by heliotrope, but it is certain that prearranged signals were exchanged.

“The simple and effective instrument that Mance invented was to be an important part of military communications for the next 40 years. Limited to use in sunlight, the heliograph became the most efficient visual signalling device ever known. In preradio days it was often the only means of communication that could span ranges of up to 100 miles with a lightweight portable instrument.

“The Mance instrument employed tripod-mounted mirrors, with one mirror linked to a key mechanism. The key tilted the mirror enough to turn the flash on and off at the distant station in accordance with the dots and dashes of the Morse code. Range was line-of-sight, with atmospheric conditions establishing the upper limit. The British army found the Mance heliograph ideally suited to field operations in India and Afghanistan. It was used to transmit daily reports and orders to and from the remote mountain posts and for tactical communications when troops were in the field. (One hundred ten years later, TV pictures were to show Afghan guerilla units using British pattern heliographs in their conflict with the Russians.) The present Afghans have found the helio useful for the same reason as their British enemies of old; namely, a simple uncomplicated mechanism that requires no batteries or complex maintenance.”

Source The Telegraph: A History of Morse’s Invention and its Predecessors in the United States by Lewis Coe TK 5115 C54 1993 McFarland and Company, Publishers ISBN 0-89950-736-0

From Bruce Sterling

“In 1877, Chief Signal Officer Albert J. Meyer of the U. S. Army obtained some heliograph instruments from the British for experimental purposes. Meyer sent the instruments to Gen. Nelson A. Miles, who was assuming command of the Yellowstone Department in Montana. Miles became an enthusiastic users of the heliograph. When he was transferred to Arizona in 1886 to take command of the Apache Indian campaign, he saw it as the ideal place for heliograph operations. There were few roads and telegraph lines, and widely separated army commands were often at a disadvantage through lack of communications. Miles established a heliograph communications network throughout a large part of Arizona and New Mexico, taking advantage of strategically located mountain peaks for relay stations.

“The annual report of the secretary of war for the year 1895 contains the chief signal officer’s report on the Glassford expedition that established the world’s heliograph distance record. It reads as follows:

“In developing the more important electrical communication devices of the Signal Corps, other methods of signalling that are absolutely essential adjuncts have received due attention. Heliography is perhaps the most important of these methods to a rapidly moving army, operating over a country where the use of electrical instruments is inadvisable or temporarily impracticable. ‘The former world’s record for long range heliographing was surpassed 58 miles during the year though the zealous and intelligent exertions of Capt. W. A. Glassford, Signal Corps, and a detachment of signal sergeants by the interoperation of stations on Mount Ellen, Utah, and Mount Uncompahgre, Colorado, 183 miles apart. This unprecedented feat of long distance intercommunication by visual signals was made on Sept 17, 1894, with Signal Corps heliographs carrying mirrors only 8 inches square. It was accomplished only after much discomfort and some suffering, due to severe storms om the mountains and to the rarefied air to which the parties were subjected for ten days. The persistence, skill and ingenuity of Captain Glassford and of the signal sergeants engaged in this result are highly commendable.’.

“Remnants of some of the old heliograph stations are still found on the mountaintops today. At Fort Bowie, Arizona, ceremonial demonstrations of the heliograph are sometimes staged on Bowie Peak, an important relay point during the Indian campaign. The American army at first used the Mance pattern instruments from England. Later the United States had its own version that employed a leaf shutter to interrupt the light beam for keying instead of the mirror-tilting method used by Mance. The heliograph was used in the Spanish-American war in 1898. By the time of World War 1, wireless and field telephones had pretty well taken over the army’s communications, but heliograph instruments were kept on hand until the mid 1920s. Some were kept at Corregidor in the Philippines for backup communication with the mainland in case of radio failure.

“The last great use of the heliograph was during the Boer War in South Africa, where both sides used it. The terrain and climate, as well as the nature of the campaign, made the heliograph the logical choice. For night communications, the British used some naval searchlights, brought inland on railroad cars, and equipped with leaf-type shutters for keying the beam of light into dots and dashes. In the early stages of the war, the British garrisons were besieged in Kimberly, Ladysmith, and Mafeking. With land telegraph lines cut off, the only contact with the outside world was via light-beam communication, helio by day, searchlight at night.

“In an effort to improve communications, five Marconi ‘mobile wireless units’ were sent out from England. Unfortunately, with wireless still in its infancy, these units were of little value. In the siege of Ladysmith, telegraph lines were cut off on November 2, 1899, and from then until the relieving army arrived on February 28, 1900, the heliograph was the only connecting link with the outside world. Cloudy days were tedious for the inhabitants of Ladysmith because no news could be received. One person recorded such a day in his diary, writing, ‘Heavy weather had settled upon us and had blinded the little winking reflector on Monte Cristo Hill.’

“As the relieving army, commanded by Sir Redvers Buller, approached the city, his signal officer, Capt John Cayzer, attempted to establish communication by helio. There were problems with Boer operators who intercepted the British flashes. When Cayzer finally reached a station claiming to be British, he devised a test. ‘Find Captain Brooks of the Gordons,’ he signalled. ‘Ask him the name of Captain Cayzer’s country place in Scotland.’ Captain Brooks, when found, did not immediately grasp the purpose of the question and remarked, ‘Well, I always thought Cayzer was an ass, but I didn’t think he’d forget the name of his own home!’

“Canada was the last major army to keep the heliograph as an issue item. By the time the mirror instruments were retired in 1941, they were not much used for signalling. Still, the army hated to see them go. One officer said, ‘They made damn fine shaving mirrors!’”

Source The Telegraph: A History of Morse’s Invention and its Predecessors in the United States by Lewis Coe TK 5115 C54 1993 McFarland and Company, Publishers ISBN 0-89950-736-0

From Frank Davis

“Luigi Russolo, an Italian Futurist, lauded the modern era’s beautiful machine clangor. A painter, not a musician, Russolo was nonetheless committed to being the Futurist movement’s musical activist. His 1913 manifesto “The Art of Noises” rejected inherited preferences for harmony in favor of the dissonant masterpieces that serenade us everyday without our conscious awareness. Conventional pianos, violins, harps, and horns were inferior to ‘the crashing down of metal shop blinds, slamming doors, the hubbub and shuffling of crowds, the variety of din from stations, railways, iron foundries, spinning mills, printing works, electric power stations, and underground railways.’”

“To realize his dream of a life when ‘every factory will be transformed into an intoxicating orchestra of noises’, Russolo created Intonarumori (Noise Intoners) - gangly speaker boxes that transmitted such chainsaw melodies as an internal combustion engine gurgling in ten whole-tones. He concocted four main noise families: the Exploder, the Crackler, the Buzzer, and the Scraper; the pitch and timbre of each were manipulated by a side lever.”

[It is of note that Russolo’s influence can be seen years later in not only the name of a once popular British sampling collective, The Art Of Noise, but also in the industrial movement of the 80’s with such groups as Throbbing Gristle and Einsturzende Neubauten re- discovering the “noise as music” principle.]

Source: ELEVATOR MUSIC by Joseph Lanza St. Martin’s Press 1994 ISBN 0-312-1-0540-1

From Adrian Bruch

In early 1981 Agfa Gevaert Australia released the “Family” camera. I think it was also released in Europe. This was a fixed-focus lens, modern design super 8mm film camera with easy to use controls (meaning a minimal opportunity for enthusiasts to fiddle and adjust anything).

The accompanying “Family” projector held a 25’, 50’, or 200’ spool of colour film. The film was internally projected onto an acrylic screen (similar to a telecine screen) and had no capability to play sound.

The camera sold for under $400 Australian. It could shoot one still frame (snapshot) whenever the still button was pressed. Or it could shoot normal motion footage. The camera had a built-in hole puncher, which made a small dot on the sprocket.

When the dotted frame was projected on the Agfa “Family” player it would hold for 8 seconds, thus showing a still frame. The projector/player had an optional attachment for the Kodak instant camera, so that users could print out favourite snaps.

The Agfa Family Camera failed to be marketed successfully. Several things caused its demise within 18 months.

First, the State Electricity Commission refused to allow the release of the existing model until the wiring of the player was rewired to Australian standards. (This reduced the profits considerably.)

Second, the Kodak Instant camera infringed Polaroid patents and was withdrawn from worldwide markets.

Third, the rival video camera portapak technology arrived in Australia. By the time the Agfa “Family” was withdrawn from the market it was reduced in price to less than $99.

Agfa Australia claims to remember nothing of this camera, but I found a camera repairer who will allow me to use the manuals, or take photos of his own camera/player if that is of use.

From Dan Howland

“VIDEO DISC PLAYER “SGT-100W RCA VIDEO DISC PLAYER with CED (capacitance) pickups; plays video discs like record player plays LP records. Unit is ‘play only’ device and discs must be ‘flipped’ to Side 2 for complete play.

Functions FOR-REV for ‘Rapid Access’ & ‘Visual Search’ plus ‘Pause.’

This manually-loaded CED-type player will NOT play laser-type video discs. 6x17x16, 24 lbs sh. “

Used-operational, but some adjustments may be required! $33.00” “SGT-100W, ‘AS-IS complete, not tested,’ just as we find it! May be it will work and maybe it will not! NO RETURNS! $16.00”

“USED CED VIDEO DISCS for use with above; titles as recent as 1985. Write for list! Discs may have ‘blip-skips’ during play. If intolerable, advise us within 10 days of intent to exchange; 2 lbs sh. Used, $10 each. 2-disc movies, $15.00/set.

“AS-IS DISCS, not tested—NO RETURNS! $5 ea.”

[The CED disks themselves resemble giant floppy discs, approx 12” square (but a wee bit longer than wide). Like 8-track tapes, another clunky dead medium, the CED discs have a label glued to the plastic shell. Apparently, inside the shell is a grooved (vinyl?) disc.]

Source: the CURRENT catalog of Fair Radio Sales, 1016 E. Eureka St. P.O. Box 1105, Lima OH 45802, (419) 223-2196, 227-6573, FAX (419) 227-1313.

From Bruce Sterling

[It’s very clear that the postal system is not a dead medium. However, the physical and economic structure of the posts has undergone profound, elaborate changes over the centuries. Early postal systems often doubled as espionage networks, and were often proverbially corrupt. Before the introduction of the flat-rate penny post in Britain, prices were high, yet geographically and socially inconsistent. Posts were also riddled with off-the-books “franking” privileges exercised by various privileged classes of users. Recipients were billed for posting through a ‘collect on delivery’ practice. These structural weaknesses in the postal system created a booming underground in black-market mail-fraud. Alvin F. Harlow’s avuncular and chatty history takes a deep prurient interest in these illicit goings-on.]

“There were scores of devices for the sending of a few elementary facts by mail without paying for their carriage. One of the commonest media was the newspaper, which at that time the post carried free of charge.
A line drawn under the name of a Whig politician meant that the sender was well; under a Tory meant
‘not so well.’ There were other signals which told other things. Apparent instructions to the post written on the wrapper were secret messages. Among those which the Post Office detected and for which it assessed fines were, ‘With Speed,’ ‘Send soon,’ ‘To be punctually forwarded,’ ‘With my compliments,’ ‘Postman, be you honest and true,’ ‘It is requested that this letter be delivered without delay, otherwise a complaint will be made to headquarters;’ all of which meant something entirely different.

“Business men had code systems based on the writing of the address. One man’s address might be varied thus: William Henry Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London William Henry Perkins, Pump Court, London Wm. Henry Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London Wm. Henry Perkins, Pump Court, London William H. Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London William H. Perkins, Pump Court, London W. Henry Perkins, 97 Pump Court, London W. Henry Perkins, Pump Court, London Will H. Perkins, Wm. H. Perkins, W. H. Perkins, William Perkins and so on were other variants; then a change could be made by putting Mr. before each of the names, or adding Esq. after them. Mr Perkins’ address could be differently stated: ‘At the sign of the Golden Dog,’ or ‘Opposite St. Somebody-or-Other’s Church.’ Actually hundreds of changes might be made, all of which were recorded in a key book and each one having its meaning; the state of the market, bids, quotations, orders, cancellations, notice of arrival and transmission, etc.