The Development in the Letterbox
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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there was two main means of delivering a letter; senders will be necessitated to bring their mail to your Receiving House, or would await the Bellman. The latter would patrol the streets, collecting post in the community. In order to distinguish himself, also to make his presence known, the Bellman would wear a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, using a trial proposed for the Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were placed on Jersey to understand the new system.
The success from the experiment triggered a different four being installed on Guernsey, one of these now forms part with the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing for the mainland as of 1853.
However, there is up to now no universal pillar box design that we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was with the discretion of local authorities, and yes it is at 1859 that attempts were designed to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits took over as favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as the norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the main included the addition in the protruding cap to shield the contents through the elements.
As of 1859, the lamp was to be available in two sizes; a greater and wider size for highly populated areas, as well as a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes would not receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism the Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to here create another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this was not only a huge success therefore, an additional design came in 1879. This final design could be the one that we are acquainted with today. It was a couple of years just before this that this iconic red colour with the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time around, the preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in using the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it turned out agreed that bright red was the best choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for approximately a decade.
For people at large, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the capability for sending and receiving mail with ease. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.