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FOREWORD
The story of signals is almost as old as the story of man himself. There has existed from earliest times a need, often a sudden and urgent need, to convey a message, an order or a warning instantaneously to some distant person or group of persons. This is as true now as in the days when a flaming beacon on a distant headland told of the approach of a raiding galley. Only today the alarm travels through the air or on insulated cable; the watcher on the coast is a complicated piece of equipment sending waves pulsing out across the Arctic wastes with the speed of light; and the raider is a supersonic bomber or missile flashing over the edge of the world to the attack.
The many ingenious methods of delivering messages, whether spoken or written, do not fall within the scope of this book. They come under the general heading of communications, of which signals are only a part. They include the various ways of delivering a written message – from carrier pigeon and pony express to pneumatic tube, telegraph, telephone, radio and radio-telephone. In fact, modern technology has completely revolutionized methods of sending signals and made the process so relatively simple that most messages can be transmitted by the spoken word. But despite all the latest methods of communications, there are many kinds of signals, both visual and audible in constant use night and day. Intricate machines may be sending code crackling through the ether; at the same time winking lights, waving arms, and the shrieks of horns and whistles still account for a vast amount of present-day signaling.
It is with the idea of listing and illustrating some of the signals and signaling devices in everyday use, along with a glance at the signals of bygone days, that this book is being published. And if you think that signals play no part in your life, remember that the turn indicators on your car convey signals often more vital and urgent than the booming blasts of an ocean liner's horn.
JACK COGGINS
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