The Development of the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox

Blog Article

The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there were two main methods for delivering a letter; senders would be necessitated to get their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post from your community. In order to distinguish himself, and also to make his presence known, the Bellman might wear a uniform and sound familiar.
It was in 1852 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were attached to Jersey to test out the newest system.
The success in the experiment resulted in a different four being placed on Guernsey, one ofthese now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland as of 1853.
However, there was clearly confirmed no universal pillar box design that were currently familiar. Design and manufacture was at the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits became the favoured option over vertical ones, and had become the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents in the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp ended up being to be for sale in two sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, plus a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was against the backdrop for these criticism how the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not only a huge success and so, an additional design arrived 1879. This final design will be the one in which were accustomed to today. It was 2 years prior to this the iconic red colour Australian made security letterboxes with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, preferred colour option was green in order to blend in with the green British pastures. However, after a barrage of complaints that the structures were to hard to locate due to their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best option. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately 10 years.
For the population most importantly, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, individuals were afforded access with a delivery service nothing you've seen prior witnessed in Great Britain.