Ah yes... The wonders of the internet. Alas, it wasn't (largely) available when I was assigned the research in the early '80s. I had to go to actual libraries and pore over actual books to find the answer - which I never did find.
I completely missed the reference to relay racks (although the phrase is familiar). I guess the genesis could have been trains, but since Adm Tuttle was a submariner, I think he would have preferred the submarine as the point of origin. Thanks for the research es 73, Hope everyone has a joyous holiday (be it whatever) season. Tom -----Original Message----- From: Craig Rairdin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 10:23 AM To: 'Tom Skinner'; [email protected] Subject: RE: [Elecraft] 19inch Racks - somewhat OT >From Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org) the repository of all knowledge: "A 19-inch rack is a standardized (EIA 310-D, IEC 60297 and DIN 41494 SC48D) system for mounting various electronic modules in a "stack", or rack, 19 inches (482.6 mm) wide. Equipment designed to be placed in a rack is typically described as rack-mount, a rack mounted system, a rack mount chassis, subrack, or occasionally, simply shelf. The slang expression for a subrack (generally 1U height) is "pizza box" due to the similarity in size and shape. "Because of their origin as mounting systems for railroad signaling relays, they are still sometimes called relay racks, but the 19-inch rack format has remained a constant while the technology that is mounted within it has changed to completely different fields. This standard rack arrangement is widely used throughout the telecommunication, computing, and entertainment industries, as well as others." Craig NZ0R -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Skinner Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 9:09 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Elecraft] 19inch Racks - somewhat OT Good Morning Group, I just have to share this. Before I retired from the Navy, I was serving with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as one of the assistants to the communications guru, one particularily gruff vice admiral who I'm pretty sure coined the phrase "lead, follow or get the hell out of the way", and liked to continually stir whatever pot he happened to be in charge of at the time. For whatever reason, he called me into his office, one day, and asked me if the 19 inch rack panel was a standard or a tradition. I had long since learned not to ask him why he was curious, I just charged off to find out. I uncovered countless references to 19" racks, and a lot of things which specified it, but failed to find out anything about its genisus. Since failure was not an option, I reported that it had something to do with the width of hatches on early submarines, but an original order - if one existed - was lost in the fog of the past. In any event, the 19 inch "standard" was so deeply ingrained in the military (and a good bit of civilian industry as well) that it might as well have come down as the 11th commandment. He grudently accepted my "findings", but continued to press the issue, claiming that if services were going to continue to support 19" racks, there needed to be a mil spec actually in place. Thankfully I retired before being thrown into that briar patch. I have wondered, over the years, if I missed anything. Does anyone REALLY know whether or not the 19 inch is a "standard" or a tradition. 73, Tom, KJ3D (apparently with too-little-else-to-worry-about-today) _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: [email protected] You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com
