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This machine was invented by the Chaplain General, the Reverend John Gamble formerly a mathematics don at Pembroke College, Cambridge. It was sold to the Army in 1797. Its five arms radiated from a common pivot. Only the two horizontal positions and the three others at 45 degrees in the upper quadrant were used. Gamble's machine was intended primarily for alphabetical signalling, and being mobile was used in 1811 in the Peninsula War in forward areas. Thus the first cover is issued on the 180th anniversary of the first recorded use of the equipment in a military campaign.
Mr Gamble also invented a six-arm rope and pulley machine for use in signalling between ships. He failed to interest the Admiralty however until, a quarter of a century later, General Sir Charles Pasley persuaded the Royal Navy to adopt an improved Gamble machine. This, with periodic modifications, was still in use until the 1940's.
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