19" Rack History

[John Foust]

At 02:49 PM 4/30/2006, John Allain wrote:
>Just dawned on me that the fundamental shape (width) of all my industrial
>computing is based on the 19" rack, from the earliest to the latest piece of
>equipment, but who originated the 19" rack?  AT&T?

Everyone else voted for telco, but I'll place a bet on the radio industry.
And/or the radio industry of the military.  It's a standard, isn't it?
Why, just Friday I bought a surplus 19" rack, and the other rack next 
to it that I passed by was old enough to have the black wrinkle paint 
as well as a US Navy property tag.

- John