Pneumatic tube
Encyclopedia
Pneumatic tubes are systems in which cylindrical containers are propelled through a network of tubes by compressed air
or by partial vacuum
. They are used for transporting solid objects, as opposed to conventional pipelines, which transport fluids.
Pneumatic tube networks gained great prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century for businesses or administrations that needed to transport small but urgent packages (such as mail or money) over relatively short distances (within a building, or, at most, within a city). Some of these systems grew to great complexity, but they were eventually superseded by more modern methods of communication and courier transport, and are now much rarer than before. However, in some settings, such as hospitals, they remain of great use, and have been extended and developed further technologically in recent decades.
A small number of pneumatic transportation systems were also built for larger cargo, to compete with more standard train and subway systems. However, these never gained as much popularity as practical systems.
were the first to use capsule pipelines to transmit telegraph
messages, or telegrams, to nearby buildings from telegraph stations.
While they are commonly used for small parcels and documents — now most often used as cash carrier
s at bank
s or supermarket
s — they were originally proposed in the early 19th century for transport of heavy freight. It was once envisaged that networks of these massive tubes might be used to transport people.
The technology is still used on a smaller scale. While its use for communicating information has been completely superseded by electronic systems, pneumatic tubes are still widely used for transporting small valuable objects, or where convenience and speed in a local environment is useful.
In the United States, a large number of drive-up banks use pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents between cars and tellers. Most hospitals have a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system to deliver drugs, documents and specimens to and from laboratories and nurses' stations. Many factories use them to deliver parts quickly across large campuses. Many larger stores use systems to securely transport excess cash from checkout stands to back offices, and to send change back to cashiers. NASA's original Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas had pneumatic tubes connecting controller consoles with staff support rooms. Denver International Airport
is noteworthy for the large number of pneumatic tube systems, including a 25 cm diameter system for moving aircraft parts to remote concourses, a 10 cm system for United Airlines
ticketing, and a robust system in the parking toll collection system with an outlet at every booth.
Pneumatic tube systems are used in science, to transport samples during neutron activation analysis
. Samples must be moved from the nuclear reactor core, in which they are bombarded with neutrons, to the instrument that records the resulting radiation. As some of the radioactive isotopes in the sample can have very short half-lives, speed is important. These systems may be automated, with a magazine of sample tubes that are moved into the reactor core in turn for a predetermined time, before being moved to the instrument station and finally to a container for storage and disposal.
Until it closed in early 2011, a McDonald's
in Edina, MN claimed on its receipts to be the "World's Only Pneumatic Air Drive-Thru," sending food from their strip-mall location to a drive-through in the middle of a parking lot.
In Britain, the House of Commons telephone and computer exchange also has a pneumatic tube system in place.
Pneumatic post or pneumatic mail is a system to deliver letters through pressurized air tubes. It was invented by the Scottish engineer William Murdoch
in the 19th century and was later developed by the London Pneumatic Despatch Company
. Pneumatic post systems were used in several large cities starting in the second half of the 19th century (including an 1866 London system powerful and large enough to transport humans during trial runs - though not intended for the purpose), but were largely abandoned during the 20th century.
It was also speculated that a system of tubes might deliver mail to every home in the US. A major network of tubes in Paris
was in use until 1984, when it was finally abandoned in favor of computers and fax machines. In Prague
, in the Czech Republic
, a network of tubes extending approximately 60 kilometres in length still exists for delivering mail and parcels. Following the 2002 European floods
, the Prague system sustained damage, and operation was halted indefinitely.
Pneumatic post stations usually connected post offices, stock exchanges, banks and ministries. Italy was the only country to issue postage stamp
s (between 1913 and 1966) specifically for pneumatic post. Austria, France, and Germany issued postal stationery
for pneumatic use.
Typical current applications are in bank
s and hospital
s. Many large retailers use pneumatic tubes to transport cheques or other documents from cashiers to the accounting office.
Historical use
In 1812, George Medhurst
first proposed, but never implemented, blowing passenger carriages through a tunnel. Precursors of pneumatic tube systems for passenger transport, the atmospheric railway
(for which the tube was laid between the rails, with a piston running in it suspended from the train through a sealable slot in the top of the tube) were operated as follows:
In 1861, the London Pneumatic Despatch Company
built a system large enough to move a person, although it was intended for parcels. The inauguration of the new Holborn
Station on 10 October 1865 was marked by having the Duke of Buckingham
, the chairman, and some of the directors of the company blown through the tube to Euston
(a five minute trip).
The 550-meter Crystal Palace pneumatic railway
was exhibited at the Crystal Palace
in 1864. This was a prototype for a proposed Waterloo and Whitehall Railway
that would have run under the River Thames
linking Waterloo
and Charing Cross
. Digging commenced in 1865 but was halted in 1868 due to financial problems.
In 1867 at the American Institute Fair in New York
, Alfred Ely Beach demonstrated a 32.6 m long, 1.8 m diameter pipe that was capable of moving 12 passengers plus a conductor. In 1869, the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company
of New York secretly constructed a 95 m long, 2.7 m diameter pneumatic subway line under Broadway
, to demonstrate the possibilities of the new transport mode. The line only operated for a few months, closing after Beach was unsuccessful in getting permission to extend it – Boss Tweed, an immensely powerful local politician, did not want it to go ahead as he was intending to personally invest into competing schemes for an elevated rail line.
20th century
In the 1960s, Lockheed
and MIT
with the United States Department of Commerce
conducted feasibility studies on a vactrain
system powered by ambient atmospheric pressure and "gravitational pendulum assist" to connect cities on the East Coast of the US. They calculated that the run between Philadelphia
and New York City
would average 174 meters per second
, that is 626 km/h (388 mph). When those plans were abandoned as too expensive, Lockheed engineer L.K. Edwards founded Tube Transit, Inc. to develop technology based on "gravity-vacuum transportation". In 1967 he proposed a Bay Area Gravity-Vacuum Transit for California
that would run alongside the then-under construction BART
system. It was never built.
21st century
Research into trains running in partially-evacuated tubes is continuing. For further information see Vactrain
.
When pneumatic tubes first came into use in the 19th century, they symbolized technological progress and it was imagined that they would be common in the future. Jules Verne
's Paris in the Twentieth Century (1863) includes suspended pneumatic tube trains that stretch across the oceans. Albert Robida
's The Twentieth Century (1882) describes a 1950s Paris where tube trains have replaced railways
, pneumatic mail is ubiquitous, and catering companies compete to deliver meals on tap to people's homes through pneumatic tubes. Edward Bellamy
's Looking Backward
(1888) envisions the world of 2000 as interlinked with tubes for delivering goods, while Michel Verne
's An Express of the Future (1888) questions the sensibility of a transatlantic
pneumatic subway
. In Michel & Jules Verne's The Day of an American Journalist in 2889 (1889) submarine tubes carry people faster than aero-trains and the Society for Supplying Food to the Home allows subscribers to receive meals pneumatically.
Later, because of their use by governments and large businesses, tubes began to symbolize bureaucracy. In George Orwell
's Nineteen Eighty-Four
, pneumatic tubes in the Ministry of Truth deliver newspapers to Winston's desk containing articles to be "rectified". Robert A. Heinlein
's 1949 novella Gulf
offered a more neutral view of their use in general postal delivery.)
In a sequence from the 1968 film Baisers volés (Stolen Kisses
), François Truffaut shows the fast transportation of a letter through the underground pneumatic tubes system in Paris. (This scene was later parodied in The Simpsons
episode "Marge Gets a Job
".)
In 1985, the movie Brazil
also used tubes (as well as other anachronistic-seeming technologies) to evoke the stagnation of bureaucracy. At the start of each episode of the 1998 television series Fantasy Island, a darker version of the original, bookings for would-be visitors to the Island were sent to Mr. Roarke via a pneumatic tube from a dusty old travel agency.
The 1994 film version of The Shadow
includes a sequence in which the camera follows a message capsule as it speeds through a pneumatic tube system. The implication is that the Shadow maintains a private network of tubes for the transportation of secret messages.
The failure of pneumatic tubes to live up to their potential as envisaged in previous centuries has placed them in the company of flying cars and dirigibles
as ripe for ironic retro-futurism
. The 1960s cartoon series The Jetsons
featured pneumatic tubes that people could step into and be sucked up and swiftly spat out at their destination. In the animated television series Futurama
, set in the 31st century, large pneumatic tubes are used in cities for transporting people, whilst smaller ones are used to transport mail. The tubes in Futurama
are also used to depict the endless confusion of bureaucracy: an immense network of pneumatic tubes connects all offices in New New York City to the "Central Bureaucracy", with all the capsules being deposited directly into a huge pile in the main filing room, with no sorting or organization.
In Ghostbusters II, the "river of slime" under New York city is found by the Ghostbusters boys to be flowing through an old pneumatic tube line - a reference to the Beach Pneumatic Transit tube
.
In the 1998 PC game Grim Fandango, Pneumatic tubes play a role in the part of the story that takes place at Manny's office.
In the American television show Lost
, the DHARMA
Initiative's Pearl research station has a pneumatic tube system. The character Locke
put his drawing of the blast door map in the tube without a capsule. It was sucked up into the tube, indicating the system still functioned. The tube from the Pearl leads to a capsule dump.
In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
pneumatic tubes are used as a way to transport information from one place to the next when covering news articles.
In the popular video game Bioshock
, pneumatic tubes are used to transport various items throughout the fictional city of Rapture
.
Douglas Adams
's 1998 computer game Starship Titanic
features the "Succ-U-Bus" in almost every room - being a pneumatic pipe transport system which goes all around the ship; players must understand and use the Succ-U-Bus in order to progress and solve the puzzles.
Gas compressor
A gas compressor is a mechanical device that increases the pressure of a gas by reducing its volume.Compressors are similar to pumps: both increase the pressure on a fluid and both can transport the fluid through a pipe. As gases are compressible, the compressor also reduces the volume of a gas...
or by partial vacuum
Vacuum
In everyday usage, vacuum is a volume of space that is essentially empty of matter, such that its gaseous pressure is much less than atmospheric pressure. The word comes from the Latin term for "empty". A perfect vacuum would be one with no particles in it at all, which is impossible to achieve in...
. They are used for transporting solid objects, as opposed to conventional pipelines, which transport fluids.
Pneumatic tube networks gained great prominence in the late 19th and early 20th century for businesses or administrations that needed to transport small but urgent packages (such as mail or money) over relatively short distances (within a building, or, at most, within a city). Some of these systems grew to great complexity, but they were eventually superseded by more modern methods of communication and courier transport, and are now much rarer than before. However, in some settings, such as hospitals, they remain of great use, and have been extended and developed further technologically in recent decades.
A small number of pneumatic transportation systems were also built for larger cargo, to compete with more standard train and subway systems. However, these never gained as much popularity as practical systems.
Historical use
Pneumatic capsule transportation was originally invented by William Murdoch. Though a marvel of the time, and a successful sideshow, it was considered little more than a novelty until the invention of the capsule in 1836. The VictoriansVictorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
were the first to use capsule pipelines to transmit telegraph
Telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
messages, or telegrams, to nearby buildings from telegraph stations.
While they are commonly used for small parcels and documents — now most often used as cash carrier
Cash carrier
Cash carriers were used in shops and department stores to carry customers' payments from the sales assistant to the cashier and to carry the change and receipt back again.-Cash balls:...
s at bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s or supermarket
Supermarket
A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...
s — they were originally proposed in the early 19th century for transport of heavy freight. It was once envisaged that networks of these massive tubes might be used to transport people.
Current use
In the United States, a large number of drive-up banks use pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents between cars and tellers. Most hospitals have a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system to deliver drugs, documents and specimens to and from laboratories and nurses' stations. Many factories use them to deliver parts quickly across large campuses. Many larger stores use systems to securely transport excess cash from checkout stands to back offices, and to send change back to cashiers. NASA's original Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas had pneumatic tubes connecting controller consoles with staff support rooms. Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport
Denver International Airport , often referred to as DIA, is an airport in Denver, Colorado. By land size, at , it is the largest international airport in the United States, and the third largest international airport in the world after King Fahd International Airport and Montréal-Mirabel...
is noteworthy for the large number of pneumatic tube systems, including a 25 cm diameter system for moving aircraft parts to remote concourses, a 10 cm system for United Airlines
United Airlines
United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...
ticketing, and a robust system in the parking toll collection system with an outlet at every booth.
Pneumatic tube systems are used in science, to transport samples during neutron activation analysis
Neutron activation analysis
In chemistry, neutron activation analysis is a nuclear process used for determining the concentrations of elements in a vast amount of materials. NAA allows discrete sampling of elements as it disregards the chemical form of a sample, and focuses solely on its nucleus. The method is based on...
. Samples must be moved from the nuclear reactor core, in which they are bombarded with neutrons, to the instrument that records the resulting radiation. As some of the radioactive isotopes in the sample can have very short half-lives, speed is important. These systems may be automated, with a magazine of sample tubes that are moved into the reactor core in turn for a predetermined time, before being moved to the instrument station and finally to a container for storage and disposal.
Until it closed in early 2011, a McDonald's
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is the world's largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants, serving around 64 million customers daily in 119 countries. Headquartered in the United States, the company began in 1940 as a barbecue restaurant operated by the eponymous Richard and Maurice McDonald; in 1948...
in Edina, MN claimed on its receipts to be the "World's Only Pneumatic Air Drive-Thru," sending food from their strip-mall location to a drive-through in the middle of a parking lot.
In Britain, the House of Commons telephone and computer exchange also has a pneumatic tube system in place.
In postal service
William Murdoch
William Murdoch was a Scottish engineer and long-term inventor.Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton and Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engine erector for ten years, spending most of the rest of his life in Birmingham, England.He was the inventor of the oscillating steam...
in the 19th century and was later developed by the London Pneumatic Despatch Company
London Pneumatic Despatch Company
The London Pneumatic Despatch Company was formed on 30 June 1859, to design, build and operate an underground railway system for the carrying of mail, parcels and light freight between locations in London...
. Pneumatic post systems were used in several large cities starting in the second half of the 19th century (including an 1866 London system powerful and large enough to transport humans during trial runs - though not intended for the purpose), but were largely abandoned during the 20th century.
It was also speculated that a system of tubes might deliver mail to every home in the US. A major network of tubes in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
was in use until 1984, when it was finally abandoned in favor of computers and fax machines. In Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, in the Czech Republic
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, a network of tubes extending approximately 60 kilometres in length still exists for delivering mail and parcels. Following the 2002 European floods
2002 European floods
In August 2002 a 100-year flood caused by over a week of continuous heavy rains ravaged Europe, killing dozens, dispossessing thousands, and causing damage of billions of euros in the Czech Republic, Austria, Germany, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Croatia....
, the Prague system sustained damage, and operation was halted indefinitely.
Pneumatic post stations usually connected post offices, stock exchanges, banks and ministries. Italy was the only country to issue postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
s (between 1913 and 1966) specifically for pneumatic post. Austria, France, and Germany issued postal stationery
Postal stationery
A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related service has been prepaid...
for pneumatic use.
Typical current applications are in bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
s and hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
s. Many large retailers use pneumatic tubes to transport cheques or other documents from cashiers to the accounting office.
Historical use
- 1853: linking the London Stock Exchange to the city's main telegraph station (a distance of 220 yards (200 m) )
- 1861: in London with the London Pneumatic Despatch CompanyLondon Pneumatic Despatch CompanyThe London Pneumatic Despatch Company was formed on 30 June 1859, to design, build and operate an underground railway system for the carrying of mail, parcels and light freight between locations in London...
providing services from Euston railway stationEuston railway stationEuston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...
to the General Post OfficeGeneral Post OfficeGeneral Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
and HolbornHolbornHolborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct... - 1865: in Berlin (until 1976), the Rohrpost, a system 400 kilometers in total length at its peak in 1940
- 1866: in Paris (until 1984, 467 kilometers in total length from 1934)
- 1875: in Vienna (until 1956)
- 1887: in Prague (until 2002 due to flooding), the Prague pneumatic postPrague pneumatic postThe Prague pneumatic post is the world's last preserved municipal pneumatic post system. It is an underground system of metal tubes under the wider centre of Prague, totalling about in length...
- 1897: in New York City (until 1953)
- other cities: Munich, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Hamburg, Rome, Naples, Milan, Marseilles, Melbourne, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis
In public transportation
19th centuryIn 1812, George Medhurst
George Medhurst
George Medhurst was a mechanical engineer and inventor, who pioneered the use of compressed air as a means of propulsion. His ideas led directly to the development of the first atmospheric railway....
first proposed, but never implemented, blowing passenger carriages through a tunnel. Precursors of pneumatic tube systems for passenger transport, the atmospheric railway
Atmospheric railway
An atmospheric railway uses air pressure to provide power for propulsion. In one plan a pneumatic tube is laid between the rails, with a piston running in it suspended from the train through a sealable slot in the top of the tube. Alternatively, the whole tunnel may be the pneumatic tube with the...
(for which the tube was laid between the rails, with a piston running in it suspended from the train through a sealable slot in the top of the tube) were operated as follows:
- 1844–54: Dublin and Kingstown RailwayDublin and Kingstown RailwayThe Dublin and Kingstown Railway , which opened in 1834, was Ireland’s first railway. It linked Westland Row in Dublin with Kingstown Harbour’s West Pier in County Dublin.-History:...
's Dalkey Atmospheric RailwayDalkey Atmospheric RailwayThe Dalkey Atmospheric Railway was an extension of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway to Atmospheric Road in Dalkey, Co. Dublin, Ireland. It used part of the Dalkey Quarry industrial tramway, which was earlier used for the construction of Kingstown Harbour...
between Kingstown (Dún LaoghaireDún LaoghaireDún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...
) and DalkeyDalkeyDalkey is suburb of Dublin and seaside resort in Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County, Ireland. It was founded as a Viking settlement and became an important port during the Middle Ages. According to John Clyn, it was one of the ports through which the plague entered Ireland in the mid-14th century...
, IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
(1.75 mi (2.8 km)) - 1846–47: London and Croydon RailwayLondon and Croydon RailwayThe London and Croydon Railway was an early railway which operated between London and Croydon in England. It was opened in 1839 and in July 1846 it merged with other railways to form a part of the London Brighton and South Coast Railway ....
between CroydonCroydonCroydon is a town in South London, England, located within the London Borough of Croydon to which it gives its name. It is situated south of Charing Cross...
and New CrossNew CrossNew Cross is a district and ward of the London Borough of Lewisham, England. It is situated 4 miles south-east of Charing Cross. The ward covered by London post town and the SE 14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(7.5 mi (12.1 km)) - 1847–48: Isambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom BrunelIsambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...
's South Devon RailwaySouth Devon Railway CompanyThe South Devon Railway Company built and operated the railway from Exeter to Plymouth and Torquay in Devon, England. It was a broad gauge railway built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel-Chronology:* 1844 South Devon Railway Act passed by parliament...
between ExeterExeterExeter is a historic city in Devon, England. It lies within the ceremonial county of Devon, of which it is the county town as well as the home of Devon County Council. Currently the administrative area has the status of a non-metropolitan district, and is therefore under the administration of the...
and Newton AbbotNewton AbbotNewton Abbot is a market town and civil parish in the Teignbridge District of Devon, England on the River Teign, with a population of 23,580....
, EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
(20 mi (32.2 km)) - 1847–60: ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
–Saint-Germain railway between Bois de Vésinet and Saint-Germain-en-LayeSaint-Germain-en-LayeSaint-Germain-en-Laye is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris from the centre.Inhabitants are called Saint-Germanois...
, FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
(2 km (1.2 mi))
In 1861, the London Pneumatic Despatch Company
London Pneumatic Despatch Company
The London Pneumatic Despatch Company was formed on 30 June 1859, to design, build and operate an underground railway system for the carrying of mail, parcels and light freight between locations in London...
built a system large enough to move a person, although it was intended for parcels. The inauguration of the new Holborn
Holborn
Holborn is an area of Central London. Holborn is also the name of the area's principal east-west street, running as High Holborn from St Giles's High Street to Gray's Inn Road and then on to Holborn Viaduct...
Station on 10 October 1865 was marked by having the Duke of Buckingham
Duke of Buckingham
The titles Marquess and Duke of Buckingham, referring to Buckingham, have been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been Earls of Buckingham.-1444 creation:...
, the chairman, and some of the directors of the company blown through the tube to Euston
Euston tube station
Euston tube station is a London Underground station served by the Victoria Line and both branches of the Northern Line. It directly connects with the Euston mainline station above it. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1....
(a five minute trip).
The 550-meter Crystal Palace pneumatic railway
Crystal Palace pneumatic railway
The Crystal Palace pneumatic railway was an experimental atmospheric railway constructed near Crystal Palace Park in South London c.1864.-History:...
was exhibited at the Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace
The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...
in 1864. This was a prototype for a proposed Waterloo and Whitehall Railway
Waterloo and Whitehall Railway
The Waterloo and Whitehall Railway was a proposed and partly constructed 19th century Rammell pneumatic railway in central London intended to run under the River Thames from Waterloo station to the Whitehall end of Great Scotland Yard...
that would have run under the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
linking Waterloo
Waterloo station
Waterloo station, also known as London Waterloo, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex. The station is owned and operated by Network Rail and is close to the South Bank of the River Thames, and in Travelcard Zone 1....
and Charing Cross
Charing Cross
Charing Cross denotes the junction of Strand, Whitehall and Cockspur Street, just south of Trafalgar Square in central London, England. It is named after the now demolished Eleanor cross that stood there, in what was once the hamlet of Charing. The site of the cross is now occupied by an equestrian...
. Digging commenced in 1865 but was halted in 1868 due to financial problems.
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Alfred Ely Beach demonstrated a 32.6 m long, 1.8 m diameter pipe that was capable of moving 12 passengers plus a conductor. In 1869, the Beach Pneumatic Transit Company
Beach Pneumatic Transit
The Beach Pneumatic Transit was the first attempt to build an underground public transit system in New York City, USA.-History:In 1869, Alfred Ely Beach and his Beach Pneumatic Transit Company of New York began constructing a pneumatic subway line beneath Broadway...
of New York secretly constructed a 95 m long, 2.7 m diameter pneumatic subway line under Broadway
Broadway (New York City)
Broadway is a prominent avenue in New York City, United States, which runs through the full length of the borough of Manhattan and continues northward through the Bronx borough before terminating in Westchester County, New York. It is the oldest north–south main thoroughfare in the city, dating to...
, to demonstrate the possibilities of the new transport mode. The line only operated for a few months, closing after Beach was unsuccessful in getting permission to extend it – Boss Tweed, an immensely powerful local politician, did not want it to go ahead as he was intending to personally invest into competing schemes for an elevated rail line.
20th century
In the 1960s, Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
and MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
with the United States Department of Commerce
United States Department of Commerce
The United States Department of Commerce is the Cabinet department of the United States government concerned with promoting economic growth. It was originally created as the United States Department of Commerce and Labor on February 14, 1903...
conducted feasibility studies on a vactrain
Vactrain
A vactrain is a proposed, as-yet-unbuilt design for future high-speed railroad transportation. This would entail building maglev lines through evacuated or partly evacuated tubes or tunnels...
system powered by ambient atmospheric pressure and "gravitational pendulum assist" to connect cities on the East Coast of the US. They calculated that the run between Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
would average 174 meters per second
Metre per second
Metre per second is an SI derived unit of both speed and velocity , defined by distance in metres divided by time in seconds....
, that is 626 km/h (388 mph). When those plans were abandoned as too expensive, Lockheed engineer L.K. Edwards founded Tube Transit, Inc. to develop technology based on "gravity-vacuum transportation". In 1967 he proposed a Bay Area Gravity-Vacuum Transit for California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that would run alongside the then-under construction BART
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The heavy-rail public transit and subway system connects San Francisco with cities in the East Bay and suburbs in northern San Mateo County. BART operates five lines on of track with 44 stations in four counties...
system. It was never built.
21st century
Research into trains running in partially-evacuated tubes is continuing. For further information see Vactrain
Vactrain
A vactrain is a proposed, as-yet-unbuilt design for future high-speed railroad transportation. This would entail building maglev lines through evacuated or partly evacuated tubes or tunnels...
.
Technical characteristics
Modern systems (for smaller, i.e. "normal" tube diameters as used in the transport of small capsules) reach speeds of around 7.5 m (25 ft) per second, though some historical systems already achieved speeds of 10 m (33 ft) per second. Further, modern systems can also be computer-controlled, allowing, among other things, the tracking of any specific capsule. Varying air pressures also allow capsules to brake slowly, removing the jarring arrival that used to characterise earlier systems and make them unsuitable for fragile contents.In fiction
Jules Verne
Jules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's Paris in the Twentieth Century (1863) includes suspended pneumatic tube trains that stretch across the oceans. Albert Robida
Albert Robida
Albert Robida was an illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, and novelist. He edited and published La Caricature magazine for 12 years. Through the 1880s he wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels...
's The Twentieth Century (1882) describes a 1950s Paris where tube trains have replaced railways
Rail transport
Rail transport is a means of conveyance of passengers and goods by way of wheeled vehicles running on rail tracks. In contrast to road transport, where vehicles merely run on a prepared surface, rail vehicles are also directionally guided by the tracks they run on...
, pneumatic mail is ubiquitous, and catering companies compete to deliver meals on tap to people's homes through pneumatic tubes. Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy
Edward Bellamy was an American author and socialist, most famous for his utopian novel, Looking Backward, set in the year 2000. He was a very influential writer during the Gilded Age of United States history.-Early life:...
's Looking Backward
Looking Backward
Looking Backward: 2000-1887 is a utopian science fiction novel by Edward Bellamy, a lawyer and writer from western Massachusetts; it was first published in 1887...
(1888) envisions the world of 2000 as interlinked with tubes for delivering goods, while Michel Verne
Michel Verne
Michel Jean Pierre Verne was a writer and the son of Jules Verne.Because of his wayward behaviour, Michel was sent by his father to Mettray Penal Colony for six months in 1876. By the age of 19, he caused a scandal by eloping with an actress despite his famous father's objections...
's An Express of the Future (1888) questions the sensibility of a transatlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
pneumatic subway
Rapid transit
A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway, metro or metropolitan railway system is an electric passenger railway in an urban area with a high capacity and frequency, and grade separation from other traffic. Rapid transit systems are typically located either in underground tunnels or on...
. In Michel & Jules Verne's The Day of an American Journalist in 2889 (1889) submarine tubes carry people faster than aero-trains and the Society for Supplying Food to the Home allows subscribers to receive meals pneumatically.
Later, because of their use by governments and large businesses, tubes began to symbolize bureaucracy. In George Orwell
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
's Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is a dystopian novel about Oceania, a society ruled by the oligarchical dictatorship of the Party...
, pneumatic tubes in the Ministry of Truth deliver newspapers to Winston's desk containing articles to be "rectified". Robert A. Heinlein
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
's 1949 novella Gulf
Gulf (Heinlein)
Gulf is a novella by Robert A. Heinlein, originally published as a serial in the November and December 1949 issues of Astounding Science Fiction. It concerns a secret society of geniuses who act to protect humanity...
offered a more neutral view of their use in general postal delivery.)
In a sequence from the 1968 film Baisers volés (Stolen Kisses
Stolen Kisses
Stolen Kisses is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut. It continues the story of the character Antoine Doinel, whom Truffaut had previously depicted in The 400 Blows and the short film Antoine and Colette...
), François Truffaut shows the fast transportation of a letter through the underground pneumatic tubes system in Paris. (This scene was later parodied in The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
episode "Marge Gets a Job
Marge Gets a Job
"Marge Gets a Job" is the seventh episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It was first broadcast on November 5, 1992 on Fox. In this episode, Marge gets a job at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant to pay for foundation repair at the Simpson house. Mr. Burns develops a crush on Marge after seeing...
".)
In 1985, the movie Brazil
Brazil (film)
Brazil is a 1985 British science fiction fantasy/black comedy film directed by Terry Gilliam. It was written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard and stars Jonathan Pryce. The film also features Robert De Niro, Kim Greist, Michael Palin, Katherine Helmond, Bob Hoskins, and Ian Holm...
also used tubes (as well as other anachronistic-seeming technologies) to evoke the stagnation of bureaucracy. At the start of each episode of the 1998 television series Fantasy Island, a darker version of the original, bookings for would-be visitors to the Island were sent to Mr. Roarke via a pneumatic tube from a dusty old travel agency.
The 1994 film version of The Shadow
The Shadow (1994 film)
The Shadow is a 1994 American superhero film, directed by Russell Mulcahy, and based on the character of the same name created by Walter B. Gibson in 1931. Alec Baldwin starred in the title role...
includes a sequence in which the camera follows a message capsule as it speeds through a pneumatic tube system. The implication is that the Shadow maintains a private network of tubes for the transportation of secret messages.
The failure of pneumatic tubes to live up to their potential as envisaged in previous centuries has placed them in the company of flying cars and dirigibles
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
as ripe for ironic retro-futurism
Retro-futurism
Retro-futurism is a trend in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions of the future produced prior to about 1960...
. The 1960s cartoon series The Jetsons
The Jetsons
The Jetsons is a animated American sitcom that was produced by Hanna-Barbera, originally airing in prime-time from 1962–1963 and again from 1985–1987...
featured pneumatic tubes that people could step into and be sucked up and swiftly spat out at their destination. In the animated television series Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, set in the 31st century, large pneumatic tubes are used in cities for transporting people, whilst smaller ones are used to transport mail. The tubes in Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
are also used to depict the endless confusion of bureaucracy: an immense network of pneumatic tubes connects all offices in New New York City to the "Central Bureaucracy", with all the capsules being deposited directly into a huge pile in the main filing room, with no sorting or organization.
In Ghostbusters II, the "river of slime" under New York city is found by the Ghostbusters boys to be flowing through an old pneumatic tube line - a reference to the Beach Pneumatic Transit tube
Beach Pneumatic Transit
The Beach Pneumatic Transit was the first attempt to build an underground public transit system in New York City, USA.-History:In 1869, Alfred Ely Beach and his Beach Pneumatic Transit Company of New York began constructing a pneumatic subway line beneath Broadway...
.
In the 1998 PC game Grim Fandango, Pneumatic tubes play a role in the part of the story that takes place at Manny's office.
In the American television show Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, the DHARMA
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
Initiative's Pearl research station has a pneumatic tube system. The character Locke
John Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
put his drawing of the blast door map in the tube without a capsule. It was sucked up into the tube, indicating the system still functioned. The tube from the Pearl leads to a capsule dump.
In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five
Slaughterhouse-Five, or The Children's Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a satirical novel by Kurt Vonnegut about World War II experiences and journeys through time of a soldier called Billy Pilgrim...
pneumatic tubes are used as a way to transport information from one place to the next when covering news articles.
In the popular video game Bioshock
Bioshock
BioShock is a first-person shooter video game developed by 2K Boston and designed by Ken Levine. It was released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 on August 21, 2007 in North America, and three days later in Europe and Australia. It became available on Steam on August 21, 2007...
, pneumatic tubes are used to transport various items throughout the fictional city of Rapture
Rapture (BioShock)
Rapture is an underwater city that is the setting for the games BioShock and BioShock 2. The game's back-story describes the city as envisioned by business tycoon Andrew Ryan in the mid-1940s as a means to create a utopia for mankind's greatest thinkers to prosper in a laissez-faire environment...
.
Douglas Adams
Douglas Adams
Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...
's 1998 computer game Starship Titanic
Starship Titanic
Starship Titanic is a computer adventure game designed by Douglas Adams and made by The Digital Village. It was released in 1998. It takes place on a starship of the same name which has undergone "Spontaneous Massive Existence Failure" and crash landed on Earth on its maiden voyage .The player...
features the "Succ-U-Bus" in almost every room - being a pneumatic pipe transport system which goes all around the ship; players must understand and use the Succ-U-Bus in order to progress and solve the puzzles.
See also
- Evacuated Tube Transport
- Pipeline transportPipeline transportPipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
- Prague pneumatic postPrague pneumatic postThe Prague pneumatic post is the world's last preserved municipal pneumatic post system. It is an underground system of metal tubes under the wider centre of Prague, totalling about in length...
, the world's last preserved pneumatic mail system - VactrainVactrainA vactrain is a proposed, as-yet-unbuilt design for future high-speed railroad transportation. This would entail building maglev lines through evacuated or partly evacuated tubes or tunnels...
- Garbage collection
- Automated Vacuum CollectionAutomated Vacuum CollectionThe Automated Vacuum Waste Collection System, also known as pneumatic refuse collection, or Automated Vacuum Collection system, transports waste at high speed through underground tunnels to a collection station where it is compacted and sealed in containers. When the container is full, it is...
- Pneumatic refuse conveying systemPneumatic refuse conveying systemThe Pneumatic Refuse Conveying System is a type of waste disposal system that uses air to move refuse through pipes to collection points.A notable example was implemented in the Stockholm area in Sweden. Refuse is conveyed through steel pipes by a 20–25 meter per second air current.-Sources:*...
- Automated Vacuum Collection
- Lamson Engineering Company LtdLamson Engineering Company LtdThe Lamson Engineering Company Ltd was the best known British manufacturer of Cash Ball, Rapid Wire and Pneumatic tube delivery systems from 1937 to 1976.-History:...
External links
London Midland Magazine - February 1963 - article on the Pneumatic Dispatch Railway in London- Site describing Pneumatic Trash and Linen Systems, with photos
- Describes Paris pneumatic post, also mentions others
- Dial Switches Message Tubes 1951 article that describes with photos and drawing the basics of how the system operates
- Site describing pneumatic post systems in England, France, Berlin, the US, and Prague, with photos
- Article describing the pneumatic post system in Prague
- Pneumatic mail article from the U.S. National Postal MuseumNational Postal MuseumThe National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., USA, was established through joint agreement between the United States Postal Service and the Smithsonian Institution and opened in 1993. The museum is located across the street from Union Station, in the building that...
- The pneumatic dispatch... (1868) by Alfred Beach (scanned pages)
- Beach Pneumatic Alfred Beach's Pneumatic Subway and the beginnings of rapid transit in New York
- Futuristics: Pneumatic Transportation (contains historical illustrations)
- Capsule Pipelines: includes extensive historical documentation
- Components of a pneumatic tube system
- Archibald Williams, "Pneumatic Mail Tubes". Complete description and history in ordinary language. In The Romance of Modern Mechanism: With Interesting Descriptions in Non-Technical Language of Wonderful Machinery and Mechanical Devices and Marvellously Delicate Scientific Instruments, Etc., Etc. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1907. Reprinted by Nabu Press, 2010. ISBN 1146995377.