Copper Crimps

[Dave]

When I first joined PO Telephones ALL the kit was the same as the military and even the nomenclature was still military Victorian; "Screwdriver No 3A, insulated, termination for the use of". Drove me crazy.

 

I've just learnt something! I've been aware of BT/GPO naming conventions for years but wasn't aware they were military in origin. The interesting thing is that there are similarities between GPO, BR, and BBC engineering practices (less so now, but more so historically). I'd always assumed the common factor was the GPO, but maybe all of them were influenced by the army. How fascinating.

 

[As an aside, military applications have been a big driving force behind all sorts of technology, so it's no surprise that they may have done things before anyone else. There's nothing more important to a country than finding better ways to wage war. Sad but true.]

[kerry davies]

The BT/military terminology is six of one and a half-dozen of the other. Cross fertilisation??

 

If one remembers that the GPO was a government department, just like the War Office/MoD, until 1969, that telephones were first available in about 1878 and the Victorian era was then at the height of Empire, it all makes some kind of weird British civil service speak sense.