The Development from the Letterbox

The Development from the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there have been two main methods for 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, and make his presence known, the Bellman dons a uniform and sounds familiar.
It was in 1852 the suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, which has a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were installed on Jersey to try out the newest system.
The success of the experiment resulted in yet another four being set up on Guernsey, one of which now forms part from the British Postal Museum & Archive collection. Letter boxes then began appearing about the mainland since 1853.
However, there were up to now no universal pillar box design in which we have been currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, and yes it was in 1859 that attempts were made to standardise the structures.
Horizontal slits had become the favoured option over vertical ones, and took over as norm in letterbox design. Further improvements upon the first included the addition with the protruding cap to shield the contents from your elements.
As of 1859, the box was to be accessible by 50 % sizes; a more substantial and wider size for highly populated areas, and a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes didn't receive universal acclaim. It was contrary to the backdrop for these criticism that this Liverpool Special was formulated.
This prompted the Post Office (opened in 1861) to generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not just a huge success therefore, an additional design check here arrived 1879. This final design is the one in which we're familiar with today. It was 2 years ahead of this the iconic red colour in the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before now, the most preferred colour option was green in order to blend in with all the green British pastures. However, following a barrage of complaints that this structures were to difficult to locate because of the 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 capability for sending and receiving mail without difficulty. With the exception of oversized parcel delivery, people were afforded access with a delivery service no time before witnessed in Great Britain.