This page contains an assortment of historic resources, for systems which either no longer exist, or are no longer in development.
Pneumatic Despatch Company Prospectus
The prospectus of the London Pneumatic Despatch Company, 1859/1863, from British Library 1890.e.2.
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US Pneumatic-Tube Networks
A text summary from maps contained in US Congress reports, 1901/1909.
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Airapid
Text of a promotional booklet for the Airapid system, including details of the system at Muroran steel works.
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Pneumatic Tube System in Prague
Description of Prague system by Jakub Serých, with photographs (2004).
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Prague - Right Down the Tubes
A short summary of Prague's underground pneumatic tube network.
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Hayhurst - The Pneumatic Post of Paris
J.D. Hayhurst O.B.E., 1974.
http://www.cix.co.uk/~mhayhurst/ jdhayhurst/pneumatic/book.html [cached text]
The Cash Railway Website
Covers cash ball, wire systems and pneumatic tubes that carried cash between sales points and the cash office in shops and department stores. Contains impressive list of system locations.
http://www.ids.u-net.com/cash/
Douglas Self - Pneumatic Networks
Overview of pneumatic messaging, with details of telegraph systems in England, France and the United States.
http://www.dself.dsl.pipex.com/MUSEUM/COMMS/pneumess/pneumess.htm [cached text]
Dead Media Working Group
A number of items have been posted which relate to pneumatic telegram/telegraph systems.
http://www.deadmedia.org/ [cached text]
Berliner Unterwelten - Pneumatic Dispatch System
Description and history Berlin's pneumatic tube system.
http://www.berliner-unterwelten.de/en/002/c/dat_rohrpost/content.htm (summary) [cached text]
Related resources:
Berliner Morgenpost - Berlin Bunker Kissers
Includes a short section on the Berlin pneumatic tube network.
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Newsday - Mail System Down the Tube
A short text by Sidney Schaer, covering aspects of pneumatic mail systems in the USA.
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New York Times - Underground Mail Road
Includes part of Randolph Stark's research into New York's pneumatic tube mail system.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/07/technology/07TUBE.html [cached text]
BBC - The Crystal Palace Atmospheric Railway
Making History's story of Rammell's demonstration system at Crystal Palace.
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Alfred Ely Beach - Beach's Bizarre Broadway Subway
A slightly more in-depth account of Beach's subway than is commonly found on the internet.
http://www.klaatu.org/klaatu11.html [cached text]
FAQ - Early New York City Tunnels
New York City Subway Resources' summary of the Beach Pneumatic Transit.
Beach Pneumatic Transit [cached text ]
The American Experience - Beach Pneumatic Transit
A short history of 'the secret subway'.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/nyunderground/secret.html [cached text ]
Brennan - Beach Pneumatic Transit
Joseph Brennan's very detailed history of the Beach Pneumatic Transit.
http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beach/ [cached text]
New York City's First Subway
A short history of the Beach Pneumatic Transit.
http://members.tripod.com/~earthdude1/subway/subway.html [cached text]
Frederic Delaitre's Lost Subways
Pictorial history of the Beach Pneumatic Transit with bibliography. Includes some limited information on Rammell's Crystal Palace pneumatic railway.
http://fdelaitre.club.fr/Beach.htm [cached text]
Feedmag - Pneumatic Tube System (New York)
Short description of Dr. Rufus Gilbert's 1872 proposal for an elevated PCP in New York.
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Pneumatic Railway
Slawomir Lotysz's overview of key differences and technologies found in different historic pneumatic 'railway' systems.
http://www.s.lotysz.prv.pl/ [cached text] [mirror]
Mark Brader - Atmospheric and Pneumatic Railways
A superficial summary from "Atmospheric Railways: A Victorian Venture in Silent Speed" by Charles Hadfield, 1967.
http://www.davros.org/rail/atmospheric.html
Transportation Futuristics - Pneumatic Transportation
Short history, with pictures covering Victorian systems and the Bay Area Gravity-Vacuum Transit.
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/news_events/futuristics/ [partial cached text]
Appletons' - Cyclopedia of Applied Mechanics
Some technical information on the type of pumps used within small bore pneumatic tube systems is contained within the A and P sections.
http://www.history.rochester.edu/appleton/
About - Pneumatic Tube Inventors & Inventions
About.com's very selective history, useful only for its patent references.
http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/pneumatic.htm