WIGWAG

Wigwag

Wigwag is the nickname given to a type of railroad grade crossing signal once common in North America, named for the pendulum-like motion it used to signal the approach of a train. It is generally credited to Albert Hunt, a mechanical engineer at Southern California's Pacific Electric interurban streetcar railroad, who invented it in 1909 for safer railroad grade crossings. The term should not be confused with its usage in Britain, where wigwag is generally used to refer to alternate flashing lights, such as those found at modern level crossings.

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Wigwag (railroad)
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wigwag

Noun

  1. Any of a number of mechanical or electrical devices which cause a component to oscillate between two states.

Verb

  1. to oscillate between two states.
  2. to send a signal by waving a single flag.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: wigwag
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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