The Development on the Letterbox
The Development on the Letterbox
Blog Article
The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main means of delivering instructions; senders can be necessitated to create their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman has on a uniform and sound familiar.
It is at 1852 how the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for that Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the brand new system.
The success with the experiment led to one more four being attached to Guernsey, info now forms part of the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland at the time of 1853.
However, there were confirmed no universal pillar box design with which we are currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, also it was at 1859 that attempts were built to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and became the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the original included the addition from the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, this area ended up being to be accessible in 2 sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, and get more info a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of which criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to make another standard letter box in 1866. Again, it was not a huge success so, another design started in 1879. This final design is the one in which we have been familiar with today. It was 2 years ahead of this the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in while using green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was your best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for as much as 10 years.
For the people most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access to some delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.