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Re:Email in the 18th century: the optical telegraph by politelemon on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @12:42AM (#36873184)
It isn't explained but what is that image at the beginning and what are the things sticking out the sides?
Re:Email in the 18th century: the optical telegraph by Swizec on Wednesday July 26, 2023 @12:51AM (#36873250)
That’s an example of the optical telegraph the article is about. A person inside uses levers to move those arms into different positions. Each position has a meaning, similar to naval flags. Other towers in visual range can then re-transmit the message to towers further down range.

Same as clacks in Discworld – https://discworld.fandom.com/wiki/Clacks

edit: here’s a wikipedia with more examples of different semaphor towers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_telegraph