JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
I found this fine little notice buried in the patent reports for the 1834 volume of Journal of the Franklin Institute. The turn in the road on road signs here was to paint the destination in black on a field of white, accompanied by a pointing hand. The sign then would “be visible at night, excepting in cases of unusual darkness, and may even then, if necessary, be read with the fingers”. My word. Interesting that this attempt is made so early in the game for coach roads–the same cannot be said for roads for automobiles, where it took into the 1920s and 1930s to invent the dividing lines in the center of the road to define lanes and put in shoulder lines (respectively).