Jefferies tube
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jefferies tubes, in the Star Trek fictional universe, are small tunnels or corridors that provide access to critical starship systems. They can be vertically or horizontally oriented, and form a network that allows travel throughout large volumes of a starship even when the turbolifts are not functioning.
The term "Jefferies tube" was originally an inside joke among the original Star Trek production staff, a reference to Original Series art director Matt Jefferies, the man who designed the original starship Enterprise. The term was used frequently throughout Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the later prequel series, Star Trek: Enterprise, Captain Archer says "I had an argument once with Captain Jefferies; he was one of the designers of the NX class" (another inside joke), presumably referring to the inventor of the eponymous tubes.
Another in-joke reportedly appearing in the Jefferies Tube sets on the original Star Trek series (usually written so small as to be invisible to the audience) are labels on the pipes marked "G.N.D.N.". This stands for "Goes Nowhere, Does Nothing." The labels can be seen in certain scenes from the Star Trek films.
The term quickly caught on among fans, becoming an official part of the show's lexicon, and has begun being used informally in some real-world situations to refer to similar access passages. In the Next Generation series the Jefferies tube is mentioned in the episodes "Quality of Life", "Lessons", and others. It is also mentioned in the Voyager series in the episode "Twisted", "Macrocosm", and others.
Additionally, the US Air Force has taken the term for use within the Space Command community whereby any small or confined space is called a Jefferies Tube.
Dilbert has made a reference to Jefferies Tubes in one of their comics.
[edit] External links
- Jefferies tube article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki.
