[Elecraft] 19inch Racks - somewhat OT

[David Cutter]

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" <kj3d at adelphia.net>
To: <elecraft at mailman.qth.net>
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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