CLAUDE CHAPPE
(25 December 1763 – 23 January 1805)
Claude Chappe was born in Brûlon, Sarthe, France. He created the first optical telegraph line that connected Paris to Lille. Around 1790, he experimented with different models of telegraphy and finally puts in place a system based semaphores. He makes an initial experience in Parcé, on 2 and 3 March 1791, then reiterated in Paris.
On July 26, 1793, his invention was adopted by the National Convention and was appointed telegraph engineer. In 1794, he completed the installation of the first line between Paris and Lille.
Gradually, Chappe's health, especially mental, decline, and he committed suicide in January 23, 1805.
In 1824 Ignace Chappe, his brother, attempted to increase interest in using the semaphore line for commercial messages, such as commodity prices; however, the business community resisted.
In 1846, the government of France committed to a new system of electric telegraph lines. With the emergence of the electric telegraph, slowly the Chappe telegraph ended in 1852.
The optical telegraph line
The optical telegraph line is a system of conveying information by means of visual signals, using towers with pivoting shutters, also known as blades or paddles. Information is encoded by the position of the mechanical elements; it is read when the shutter is in a fixed position.
The Chappe brothers, in the summer of 1790, set about devising this system of communication that would allow the central government to receive intelligence and to transmit orders in the shortest possible time.
The first achieved optical telegraph covering France with a network of 556 stations stretching a total distance of 4,800 kilometres. It was used for military and national communications until the 1850s.
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