The Development of the Letterbox

The Development of the Letterbox

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The Development of the Letterbox
In the pre-post box era, there are two main strategies to delivering instructions; senders would be necessitated to take 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 that this suggestion of road-side boxes finally became a reality, with a trial proposed for your Channel Islands. Three cast-iron pillar boxes were set up on Jersey to test out the newest system.
The success in 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 as yet no universal pillar box design with which we're currently familiar. Design and manufacture was in the discretion of local authorities, plus it was at 1859 that attempts were created 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 box ended up being to be accessible in 2 sizes; a bigger and wider size for highly populated areas, along with a smaller version for elsewhere. However, the standardised pillar boxes did not 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 generate another standard letter box in 1866. Again, this is not really a huge success and so, an extra design started in 1879. This final design will be the one with which were used to today. It was 24 months prior to this that this iconic red colour from the post boxes became a standard feature.
Before this time, preferred colour option was green so that you can blend in with the green British pastures. However, from a barrage of complaints the structures were to challenging to locate because of their camouflage, it was agreed that bright red was the most suitable choice. The programme of re-painting lasted for about a decade.
For the population in particular, the introduction and refinement of letter boxes enhanced the ability for sending and receiving mail effortlessly. With more info the exception of oversized parcel delivery, everyone was afforded access to your delivery service never before witnessed in Great Britain.