The story of the mailbox has more than five centuries, although the exact date and time of the invention of such an important subject is hidden behind the veil of time.
In the XVI century, Portuguese and Dutch sailors, bulge of the earth in India and among the envelope infamous story of the post sailors from the Cape of Good Hope, on the left bank of his countrymen letter, which describes all the difficulties and misfortunes that fell to their lot during the long voyage. Leave your message they are a huge stone on the bank of the gap, and other ships already returning from Europe, we picked up and taken them home. In Cape Town, the museum is still kept the prototype of the first mailbox.
During the Florentine Republic at about the same time, there were boxes of correspondence, but behind them entrenched sinister glory. They were called "tambour", and they are intended exclusively for the sending of denunciation to the authorities. The vestibule hangs near the churches, and anyone could write slander on his enemy and throw it in a box with cut silver coin.
The second half of the coins remained with the informer, and served as a sort of check. Now he could legally claim to be one-third of the property of the convicted person, because this accusation was the basis for the arrest. After nearly a century in Paris an enterprising gentleman named Velayat came up to hang in different areas of the city drawers where anyone could put a letter and money for its delivery.
However, for unknown reason, this innovation Parisians do not have to like it, and the town-mail withered on the vine. The next trigger for the development of sending mail was the development of the New World. Captains of ships on their way to America, just one penny to provide services "mailbox". However, as the box played a simple canvas bag.
It is usually hung at the port or zucchini hotels and thus collected letters. But upon arrival at the postal bag handed postmaster for further distribution. In the XVIII century in the Austrian postmen were forced to wear the wooden mail box on his back. The man threw the letter in the box - and the postman immediately attributed it to the recipient.
Only in 1875 the residents of Vienna have guessed that you can hang up not one, but several boxes, its much more convenient. They will not have to drag yourself to the poor postman, it is enough to remove the mail and deliver it to the address. Soon these mailboxes, which portrayed the letter and the signal horn - a symbol of the postal service - appeared in Berlin, London, St. Petersburg and other major cities in Europe. And in 1874 the Swedes invented the box is very convenient design. Metal rails were attached to the movable bottom of the box. They suspended a leather bag, which fell by a single movement all correspondence.
Moreover, these bags fit the special, only for e-mail, thus ensuring the safety of the letters from the crooks. Drawers just such a structure we use to this day, and couriers postman every day deliver our mail.
