Mail chute

On September 11, 1883, James Goold Cutler received U.S. patent 284,951, for a system connecting deposit boxes on multiple floors to a single ground-floor receptacle; the chute had to have a front of at least three-fourths glass to allow for the identification of mail clogs, and, if installed at a height of greater than two stories, an elastic cushion was to be fitted in the receptacle to "prevent injury to the mail".{{cite web|url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/customers-and-communities-serving-the-cities-overcoming-congestion/cutler-mail-box-and|title= Cutler Mail Box & Chute|publisher=National Postal Museum|access-date= August 1, 2022|archive-date= February 1, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220201213633/https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/customers-and-communities-serving-the-cities-overcoming-congestion/cutler-mail-box-and|url-status= live}}

The design of chute letter boxes also evolved over time to fit architectural styles and become less utilitarian.{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Karen |last2=Lavelle|first2=Lynne |date=2015 |title=Art Deco Mailboxes: An Illustrated Design History |url= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=9780393734096}}{{rp|20}}{{r|WSJ010711}}

In 1884, a year after Cutler obtained his patent, the first such system was installed in the Cutler-designed Elwood Building in Rochester, with the goal of saving tenants the hassle of depositing mail in a box on the street. It was well received, winning awards at 1884's World Cotton Centennial in New Orleans and an exhibition the same year in Cincinnati,{{cite book |last1=Greene |first1=Karen |last2=Lavelle|first2=Lynne |date=2015 |title=Art Deco Mailboxes: An Illustrated Design History |url= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=9780393734096}}{{rp|20}} but federal law of the time only permitted the placement of mailboxes in public buildings, such as government offices, hotels, theatres, and rail stations; thus, postmen refused to mail the collected letters.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109341825/live-topics-in-washington/|date=December 20, 1886|page=2|title=Live Topics In Washington|newspaper=The Sun|location=New York, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} In 1893, under revised postal laws, chutes came under the regulatory authority of the United States Post Office Department.{{R|Smithsonian_postal}} As a result, all repairs to malfunctioning chute systems had to be undertaken by post office-approved engineers, a problem in smaller cities (such as Rochester) where the post office did not employ mechanics.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109341913/the-government-controls-the-chutes-inte/|date=August 16, 1897|page=8|title=The Government Controls the Chutes: Interesting Point Regarding the Postal Laws.|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}}

In 1884, the same year as the Elwood installation, the Cutler Manufacturing Company was incorporated by James Goold Cutler and his brother, J. Warren Cutler.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109341953/james-g-cutler-dies-twice-mayor/|date=April 22, 1927|page=1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109341960/ 2]|title=James G. Cutler Dies; Twice Mayor, Prominent In City's Business Life|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} Cutler contracted some of the work of producing systems to the Yawman & Erbe Manufacturing Company, which continued to work for Cutler until the company built its own factory on Anderson Avenue in 1908.{{r|Demo270422}} By 1905, some 1,600 chutes had been installed as a boom in skyscraper construction dovetailed with the new invention.{{Cite news |last=Maremont |first=Mark |date=2001-07-11 |title=Mail Chutes Slide to Obsolescence, With a Few Clogs Along the Way |language=en-US |work=Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB994802266416415567 |access-date=2022-09-11 |issn=0099-9660}} Cutler's firm remained the sole manufacturer of chute systems until 1904, when the Post Office Department permitted competitors.{{r|crain}} In 1905, the Automatic Mail Delivery Company of New York City started making chutes; Cutler sued for patent infringement and won the case. The two firms then merged in 1909 as the Cutler Mail Chute Company, headquartered out of offices in Rochester and the New York Times Building in New York City.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109342031/mail-chute-makers-in-big-combination-ja/|date=May 9, 1909|page=23|title=Mail Chute Makers In Big Combination: James G. Cutler, of This City, to Be President|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} The next year, the Cutler Mail Chute Company won a patent infringement lawsuit against the United States Mail Chute Equipment Company.{{cite news|last=|first=|date=January 11, 1910|title=Mail Chute Decision|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107594024/press-and-sun-bulletin/|work=The Binghamton Press|location=Binghamton, New York|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}|access-date=August 14, 2022|archive-date=August 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814205403/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107594024/press-and-sun-bulletin/|url-status=live}} The firm's grip on the technology was so firm that in 1911, a competitor testified at a congressional hearing that "every architect and builder in the country has rebelled for years against the prices they have been forced to pay for mail chutes to the Cutler Co.";{{r|crain}} even in 1961, after the original patent and those for later improvements expired, Cutler was said to hold 70 percent of the market.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109523535/new-postal-meter-offered-cutler-forms-s/|date=October 29, 1961|page=16C|first=Don|last=Record|title=New Postal Meter Offered: Cutler Forms Subsidiary to Handle Product|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 14, 2022}} James Goold Cutler stepped aside in 1915, when a Maine-domiciled holding company acquired the New York firm, and J. Warren Cutler was named president.{{r|Demo270422}}

London's Savoy Hotel featured the first installation of a Cutler chute in England when it was expanded in 1904.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109342057/the-savoy-hotel-extension/|date=May 7, 1904|page=3|title=The Savoy Hotel Extension.|newspaper=Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe and Hythe Advertiser|location=Folkestone, Kent, England|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} The Canadian Cutler Mail Chute Company Limited was incorporated in Montreal in 1910.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109342080/public-notice/|date=December 14, 1910|page=17|title=Public Notice|newspaper=The Montreal Star|location=Montreal, Quebec, Canada|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} By 1920, Cutler mail chutes had been installed in buildings in countries including Mexico, Cuba, Japan, South Africa, India, and Australia.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107563051/|date=August 15, 1920|page=27|title=Cutler Mail Chute is now Found as Essential Part of Every Skyscraper Equipment|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}}

In 1958, the Federal Equipment Company of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, purchased the Cutler Mail Chute Company, which maintained a Rochester-area presence in Honeoye Falls until 1974.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109342176/cutler-sold-to-firm-in-pennsylvania/|date=February 15, 1958|page=1|title=Cutler Sold To Firm in Pennsylvania|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109342138/oh-chute/|date=September 12, 1982|page=Upstate Magazine 31|first=Sarah|last=Kortum|title=Oh, Chute!|newspaper=Democrat and Chronicle|location=Rochester, New York|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} Federal Equipment produced equipment for post offices.{{r|Demo580215}} The firm was known as Cutler-Federal, Inc., after 1959, and engaged in the creation of automated sorting equipment and pneumatic tube systems.{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/109342160/cutler-federal-corporation-resulted-from/|date=February 27, 1973|page=11|title=Cutler-Federal Corporation Resulted from 1959 Merger|newspaper=The Evening Sentinel|location=Carlisle, Pennsylvania|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=September 11, 2022}} Cutler was acquired by the Florence Corporation, a manufacturer of mailboxes, in 2000, and this firm was purchased by Gibraltar Industries of Buffalo, New York, in 2007.{{Cite news|work=Crain's New York Business|url=https://www.crainsnewyork.com/markets/citys-mail-shafts-are-chock-full-good-stories|id={{ProQuest|2202847673}}|via=ProQuest|url-access=subscription|title=Oh, chutes: Whether anachronism or amenity, the city's mail shafts are chock-full of good stories|first=Aaron|last=Elstein|date=April 1, 2019}}

The introduction of modern building mailrooms to handle larger volumes of mail led to chutes falling out of favor, particularly after 1980.{{r|WSJ010711}} In 1997, the National Fire Protection Association banned the construction of new mail chutes because smoke could spread among floors through their vertical shafts, much as with chimneys.{{r|WSJ010711}} By 2001, 900 chutes were in active use in New York City and another 360 in Chicago, though some buildings had discontinued their use; buildings such as the Chrysler Building and McGraw-Hill Building had experienced jams, including in the case of the latter a 1986 clog blocking the passage of 40,000 pieces of mail, while the John Hancock Center shuttered its chutes because of increased volume.{{r|WSJ010711}} In 1999, the New York City district of the United States Postal Service responded to at least two calls a week to clear mail chutes that were hung up with stuck mail.{{cite news|last=Schneider|first=Daneil B.|title=F.Y.I.|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/09/nyregion/fyi-583979.html|access-date=November 7, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=9 May 1999|archive-date=24 December 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181224170644/https://www.nytimes.com/1999/05/09/nyregion/fyi-583979.html|url-status=live}} In rare cases, items could remain stuck for decades; in 1995, a widow received a love letter and other correspondence that had been caught in a Cutler mail chute 50 years prior,{{cite news|last=|first=|date=November 9, 1995|title=Widow gets love letters lost in chute for 50 years|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107577894/pensacola-news-journal/|work=Pensacola News Journal|location=Pensacola, Florida|via=Newspapers.com {{open access|access-date=August 14, 2022}}|access-date=August 14, 2022|archive-date=August 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814171337/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107577894/pensacola-news-journal/|url-status=live}} and several items intended to be mailed at the Wilkes-Barre City Hall in Pennsylvania in 1923 were discovered in 1980.{{cite news|last=|first=|date=September 23, 1980|title=Letters from 1923 stuck in chute|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107583800/the-times-leader/|work=The Times Leader|location=Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|via=Newspapers.com {{open access}}|access-date=August 14, 2022|archive-date=August 14, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220814184549/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107583800/the-times-leader/|url-status=live}}

{{Commons category|Mail chutes}}

• {{slink|Pneumatic tube#In postal service}}
• Rota (architecture)

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Category:Postal systems

Category:Building engineering