HTTP 1.1/418 Old Teapot Typewriter FontJun 22, 2023
Happy birthday to the 19" equipment rack, which turns 100 next month. From the July, 1923, Bell Systems Technical Journal: "All panels are to be of a uniform length, designed to mount on vertical supports spaced 19>< inches between centers. The height of the different panels will vary, according to the amount of apparatus in each unit, but this vertical dimension is in all cases to be a whole multiple of 1-3/4 inches."(p139 at https://archive.org/details/bstj2-3-112/page/n27/mode/2up )
BSTJ 2: 3. July 1923: Telephone Equipment for Long Cable Circuits. (Demarest, Charles S.) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Bell System Technical Journal, 2: 3. July 1923 pp 112-140. Telephone Equipment for Long Cable Circuits. (Demarest, Charles S.)

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Show threadIn3D.ca

@rmd1023 Yeah but try telling that cute little CO that she's got a nice rack and look out!

[telephony dad jokes]

Jun 23, 2023 at 4:04amWeb
Show threadHTTP 1.1/418 Old Teapot Typewriter FontJun 23, 2023
@in3dca
Show threadJake - DC0OLJun 23, 2023
@in3dca @rmd1023 Yeah... Thats why it got doors later and then called cabinet...
Show threadSteve GisselbrechtJun 24, 2023

@in3dca @rmd1023

I've already seen one reply to Regis referencing a 19" rack and thought, "Clearly this person has never met Regis IRL" before remembering the actual topic under discussion.

Show threadIn3D.caJun 24, 2023
@stevegis_ssg @rmd1023 I tried to work relays into that, I really did, for those racks would certainly have been full of Strowger switches. I regret that I never managed to see a Strowger exchange in operation. However I did have the pleasure of counting Gord Thompson as a friend. Gord was the inventor of the "electronic stored program switch", which is what replaced all those relays.