The Development with the Letterbox
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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main strategies to delivering correspondence; senders would be necessitated to bring their mail to a Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from the community. In order to distinguish himself, and to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It what food was in 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed to the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to understand the modern system.
The success with the experiment triggered yet another four being attached to Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing around the mainland by 1853.
However, there is as yet no universal pillar box design with which were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and it was in 1859 that attempts were created to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as the favoured option over get more info vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, the box was to be for sale by 50 % sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop of such 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 really a huge success and so, an extra design were only available in 1879. This final design will be the one with which we are acquainted with today. It was a couple of years just before this that the iconic red colour of the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before on this occasion, the most preferred colour option was green to be able to blend in with the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints how the structures were to tough to locate due to their camouflage, it absolutely was agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about decade.
For the people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capacity for sending and receiving mail easily. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.