Description: Providence, RHODE ISLAND - "First Fully Automatic Post Office" - 1960: On October 20, 1960, a new kind of post office opened. Postmaster General Summerfield was an enthusiastic supporter of finding new ways to process mail. His goal was to create a completely automated post office, the post office of tomorrow. The new building, to be located in Providence, RI, was nicknamed Turnkey, in the theory that it could be built and operated at the turn of a key. The post office was designed, built and operated on a contract with Intelex, an International Telephone & Telegraph subsidiary. It was a one-story building with only two supporting columns, to offer the maximum in machine and operating space. It was 420’ long, 300’ wide and 55’ high containing 126,000 square feet of space under its parabolic roof. Situated in an area crisscrossed by major transportation arteries, it would speed mail throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts. It would be a town post office as well as distribution center. Turnkey would be the testing ground for machinery for future use in post offices across the country. Cullers separated the mail, stacking letters of similar size neatly in trays. Letters were then taken to the facing and canceling machines which scanned and turned each one so all stamps faced the same way for canceling. Trays of canceled letters then went to the semi-automatic sorting areas where operators coded in destinations and letters were conveyed into trays that were sacked for transporting. Parcels were dumped onto a conveyor belt for the Webb Parcel Post Machine and turned face up on pallets that traveled by conveyors to coding stations where sorting clerks entered codes based on the address and sent the parcels on their way to be sacked for traveling to their destination. The mammoth sorters could separate letters to any of 30 destinations and parcels to 31 outlets. The cullers and facer-cancellers could process 25,000 pieces of mail an hour, the letter sorter 18,000 letters an hour and the parcel sorter 4,800 packages each hour. This Photochromatic postcard is in good condition. Pub. Le Color Productions. Providence, RI. No. LK-3.
Price: 9 USD
Location: Brooklyn, New York
End Time: 2025-01-12T04:15:05.000Z
Shipping Cost: 0 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
Restocking Fee: No
Return shipping will be paid by: Buyer
All returns accepted: Returns Accepted
Item must be returned within: 14 Days
Refund will be given as: Money Back
Return policy details:
Size: Standard (5.5x3.5 in)
Country/Region of Manufacture: United States
Continent: North America
Material: Paper
Theme: Advertising, Architecture, Industry
Region: Rhode Island
Country: USA
Type: Printed (Lithograph)
Features: Multiview, Chrome
Year Manufactured: 1960
Subject: First Fully Automatic Post Office
Postage Condition: Unposted
Circulated: Yes
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
City: Providence
Time Period Manufactured: 1960-1969
Unit of Sale: Single Unit
Brand/Publisher: Pub. Le Color Productions
Era: Linen (c. 1930-1945)
