Obscure Star Trek Question

The Asker

After seeing the way the all-mighty Conversatron picked up that Troy riddle (somewhere in the Archives), I thought you might be able to help me learn the answer to one of those minutia-type questions that, unimportant thought it may be, tortures the shit out of me nonetheless.

Here it is:
On Star Trek: Next Generation (and maybe other flavors as well) they have these crawl spaces all over the vessel called "Jeffrey's Tubes". Why do they call them that? Are there such things on the naval vessels of today or is it something just made up?

Thanks.

Responses:

Comic Book Store Guy

It is generally agreed that the "Jefferies Tubes" (please note the third 'e', peon) are named for Walter M 'Matt' Jefferies, art director on the Original Series, who designed many parts of the Enterprise, including the aforementioned tubes. The name, however, was originally a set in-joke, and was not used on-air until the "Next Generation."

General Knowledge

While many naval vessels, especially submarines, have very cramped quarters, "Jefferies Tubes" as such are in fact not common on actual ships, since the idea seems to be to hide access to vital systems behind walls for decorative effect and easy pedestrian traffic, both of which most modern navies see as less important than actually being able to repair and maintain the ship.

Captain Obvious

Go figure.

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