Chapter 782 - 782 690 The Crown Prince Who Always Stands on

Chapter 782: Chapter 690: The Crown Prince Who Always Stands on the Shoulders of Giants Chapter 782: Chapter 690: The Crown Prince Who Always Stands on the Shoulders of Giants “Mr. Sharp?”

Joseph felt he had heard this name before and so he turned to the extremely nervous young man, “You already have a mature device? That’s wonderful.”

Sharp hurried forward and bowed respectfully, “It’s an honor to meet you, esteemed Crown Prince. Indeed, I have designed a letter transmission device.”

Joseph nodded with a smile, “Can you show it to me?”

“Of course, of course.”

Sharp hurriedly took out a large roll of blueprints and spread them out on the table:

“Your Highness, look, this is it. I call it ‘distant writing’.”

Sharp pointed to something on the blueprint that looked like a water tower and explained, “The main body of the device is built on a high tower. Ah, it looks a bit like a huge clothes drying rack, but in reality, it is a rotatable crossbeam with a pendulum arm at each end.”

It was only then that Joseph noticed the T-shaped device at the top of the “water tower” that resembled an antenna.

“As the two pendulum arms can be rotated to different angles and used in combination, they can assume over 90 different positions.

“If we use each posture to represent a letter, linking them together can form any segment of speech.

“Several kilometers away, another signal tower will be built. Signalmen on it will use telescopes to watch the gestures of the pendulum arms on the previous tower and record them, translating them into letters.

“Then this signal tower can continue to relay the contents of the message.

“We only need to build a signal tower every 10 kilometers—I’ve done extensive experiments, and this distance is perfectly clear to see the pendulum movements—allowing us to quickly transmit the contents of letters to distant places.”

He looked at the Crown Prince with great expectation, “Your Highness, I think this is dozens of times faster than delivering letters by horse!”

When he heard “dozens of times faster than horses,” Joseph suddenly remembered reading somewhere in historical records that Napoleon had once established an efficient optical communication system. As a result, after his defeat at Waterloo, news reached Paris in less than two days, instantly causing chaos and depriving the deposed Emperor of the possibility of returning to Paris to stabilize politics.

It seemed that it was indeed Mr. Sharp’s invention.

Joseph immediately asked, “Are there any signal towers already built? I want to see the effect.”

Bertier stepped forward somewhat awkwardly, “Your Highness, due to the high cost of building signal towers, the General Staff is still assessing their viability…”

Joseph sighed internally. He couldn’t blame the General Staff; in any era, embracing new things is a difficult process, after all, the vast majority of them are likely just a waste of funds.

However, he was certain that Sharp’s design was reasonable and feasible.

This was exactly the telegraph system of the 18th century.

Especially in war, information is even more important than cannons!

If it were possible to build a usable long-distance communication system before a major war broke out with England, it would bring a tremendous military advantage to France.

Joseph looked at Sharp, “How long would it take to build a signal tower?”

The latter pondered for a moment and hesitated, “With sufficient funds, about 20 days.”

“So long?” Joseph frowned slightly.

He felt it was just a water tower a few stories high with a wooden frame on top, which should be completed within a week.

Sharp pointed somewhat awkwardly to the pendulum on the blueprint, “Your Highness, the signal frame needs a precise pulley system and bearings, which are a bit troublesome to make.

“Of course, once we start mass production, the speed will be much faster.”

Joseph looked at the blueprints and casually asked, “How much does it cost to build a signal tower?”

“Approximately two thousand francs, Your Highness.”

Joseph couldn’t help but open his mouth in surprise; that expensive? Two thousand francs was nearly enough to buy a house in the suburbs of Paris.

He then immediately noticed the complicated system of pulleys and pendulum arms on the signal frame, guessing that half the cost was probably spent there.

“Wait a minute,” he asked, somewhat puzzled, “why use such a complicated pendulum arm?”

Sharp explained patiently, “Your Highness, we need to transmit 26 letters and 10 numbers. And the pendulum arm must rotate at least 45 degrees to be clearly distinguished from a distance.

“Therefore, we must have a rotatable crossbeam with two pendulum arms, so we can make up the more than 40 required gestures. Look, this pendulum arm goes up, and this one goes left, that’s A. This one turns down, the crossbeam tilts 45 degrees, that’s C…”

Joseph focused on the blueprints on the capstan and asked, “How long does it take to pose a letter?”

“After becoming proficient, about 5 to 8 seconds, Your Highness.”

The pendulum arms were over 3 meters long, requiring the signalman to turn the capstan dozens of times to rotate the pendulum arm once. Turning two pendulum arms and the crossbeam was indeed time-consuming.

Joseph furrowed his brows, “This can be simplified into three fixed poles with tops that can retract or extend. Use Morse Code to transmit signals.”

“Fixed poles?” Sharp shook his head repeatedly, “That would require 15 poles, each retracting state representing a letter.

“By the way, what is Morse Code?”

Joseph remembered that Morse Code would not be invented for another forty years.

He picked up a pen and drew on the paper “-“, “The pole’s top extending represents a ‘dash’, retracted represents a ‘dot’. In this way, different letters are indicated by different combinations of dots and dashes, for example, this combination represents A.”

Sharp’s eyes widened at once.

His mind was very agile, and he immediately realized that the Crown Prince’s method was feasible.

Using three poles, two rises and falls could produce 6 dots or dashes. For the signalman, the operation would be to push and pull the handle six times, which was definitely much faster than turning the capstan desperately.

Moreover, this method only required three hollow poles, avoiding any pulleys and bearings, and the cost would likely not exceed 50 francs.

He began nodding excitedly, “Your Highness, this is really miraculous! With such a simple method, you have solved an extremely complex problem…

“How could I not have thought of this…

“You are simply the greatest inventor I have ever seen!”

Joseph felt somewhat sheepish, thinking that this was Mr. Morse’s credit, and he was just copying it.

Sharp rolled up his blueprints in just a few moves, “Your Highness, using the ‘Morse Code’ pattern you mentioned, I estimate it would take about a week to build a signal tower.”

Joseph nodded and turned to Bertier, “Please provide Mr. Sharp with all the support he needs to complete testing as soon as possible.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Joseph didn’t know that in history, it took Sharp three years after submitting his report to the French military to receive a grant of six thousand francs for testing. It took another year to start the actual construction.

Yet, he had shortened the process to one afternoon.