I'll stick my neck out and say it was a standard handed down by the British
Post Office, generally known as a Post Office rack, now known by all kinds
of "standards" numbers.
David
G3UNA
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Skinner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 27, 2006 3:08 PM
Subject: [Elecraft] 19inch Racks - somewhat OT
Good Morning Group,
I just have 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)
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