The mountain sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1844-1853, 1853-05-05
Atmospheric Tubular Mai, Facilities.
The New York Tts5ane's Boston correspond

The New York T,i5une's Boston correspond
ence says:
Speaking of Tunnels calls TO mind the AT
Eospheric Telegraph" as it is queerly msna-
meu, which Is now exhibition i'll one OF the
lobby rooms of the Merchants Exchamge As
have once been accused of mercenary motive
III ny correspondence in these columns, let me
say that have 10 earthly reason to speak ia
voraby OF the inventor, MIR. Richardson, or his
enterprise except that he appears to be in
teigent, laborious, and perseverng man, ami
10 offer something TO the public which promises
TO be beneficial. His invention, if indeed it is
his, which | am not qualified 10 decide, is mere
u modification OF the atmospheric railway,
which. at one time, promised much. The change
is this, INSTEAD OF propelling by mospheric
pressure Il train Of cars long tube, the
mail bag IS 10 be propelled through it. For
this latter service the atmospheric traction is
doubtedly adequate, will be plain to any one
who will carefully consider i.s nature
Let me explain little for the benefit of your
readers who are not engineers. Suppose that
cylIndrIc;l pump 81 inches il diameter, with
IS inch stroke, be connected with pipe y inch
es III diameter and 30 feet long The capacities
of the pipe and the cylinder will be equal. II
the piston then be raised from the bottom Of the
cylinder To the top the air III the pipe will have
TO expand 10 Ioub.e its space to fiji both the pipe
and the cylinder, and while the pressure with
Uut Is Il whole atmosphere, Is lbs. to the
square inch, the re-HctIon within is only half an
atmosphere, or a li.s. As every upward stroke
OF the piston is sufficient to reduce one half the
density III 80 feet Of pipe, by making l5 strokes
minute and working 81 hours. it wou 4 rarity
to the same extent the air IL 2UO miles Of pipe.
At that degree of exhaustion the external pres
sure on the piston will be :, ,G34 lbs. mere than
the internal, and there will he pressure of one
ninth that, or SiS lbs, available to propel load
through the pipe. As the pipe is nearly le7el,
fF.c ~ / nof inns
TO be oyercome by the propulsion, and cOnSe-
quently mail of 20 coo half ounce letters would
be propelled by such force acting constantly,
with enormous velocity. Ii would, Ia fact, be
shot forward an hundred miles in very few
minutes, and then. the eerial equilibrium being
restored, resistance would commence which
would gradually destroy its momentum. IT. in
stead OF one pump, many should be employed ut
once IN exhausting the supposed 200 miles of
pipe, 1t IS plain that the work might be done IN
single hour or less. One hundred horse pow
er OF steam, acting at different points, would
doubtedly be able in hour produce O pro-
peling force approaching much nearer to whole
atmosphere, leaving, indeed, only air enough III
the pipe to answer the important purpose of
re-actlng spring cushion ut the remote end so
as TO prevent the mail from being shattered
reduced 30 a homogeneous pulp by !. too sudden
arrival.
So far the mail itself is concerned. it will
probably cost less tractiye force to drag it bodily
through pipe Of pretty smooth bore than to
drag 1t with its proportion of locomotive npara-
tus railroad. The amount Of horse pow
er which would in given time drag ii hence to
New York, would in the same time exhaust
pipe Of sufficient bore TO enable atmospheric
pressure TO pat il through in ten fifteen min
utes. Multiplying the horse-pow applied TO
the exhaustion will reduce the time consumed in
the Same proportion And IN this way may
have hourly mails. or haif-hourly, with no great
er expense for carrying them than at present
AS to the wear and tear, that is another matter
The friction on the bags might be a little more
serious than at present, yet think this difficult
ty may be reduced to n triie. As the load is
constantly in contact with cold pipe, the heat
from the friction will be absorbed nearly as fast
as 1t is generated, and there is little danger that
the mail will take fire.
The apparatus on q small scale, which Mr..
Richardson shows ut the Exchange. is very in
geniously constructed, and works prettily. But,
OF course, no model diminutive can demon
strate the feasibility of the operation. in large.
Neither does experiment OF mile OF pipe,
three inches in dilmeter, which was successful
ly put in operation on the line of the Providence
Railroad, amount demonstration. These
experiments, however show the nature of the
force: how the ierial team are to be harnesSed,
and what are its good points for the mail ser
vice.
Practical difficulties will doubtless be encoun-
tered when n grand mail tube tfor "nich suo-
SC ciption books are to be opened Directly comes
to be laid down between this village and your
but. n correspondent l have
that shall live to send my hasty
scrawls through it. and that the Tribune con
tanning them will be received and circulating IN
Boston in less than an hour from the press.
Whether the General Government, which al
ways has to be mpelled and propelled win
.sharp sticks" for a long time before 1t VIII
adopt the most obvious Improvements, Will pat
tronize the new rapidity, or put veto on It's
use for private mails, il another question To oe
settled. Ii the physical success of the large ex-
pertinent should answer confident expectations.
it will follow of course. in tine. that the fedeTai
Post-oice must adopt it for all important routes
or break down before private competition. The
next step will be TO inquire whether persons as
well as papers shall be called for through ths
new channel of locomotion. The physical pro-
nerties Of air are such refer particularly 10 IT'S
admirable mobility and elasticity. that II Is not
impossible TO make arran sements by which
living editor or reporter. having been snitahiy
cocooned in New YORK, after his evening 'e9'sa-
i,.'' has been pnt to press, may open MS EYES
the next morning to the rising sun IN San fr"h-
cisco, alive and kicking.
4 Congress of I,hilogists.-lt is stated ihHt
proiect has been started by some trench saO9hS'
to assem- e in Paris, in the course ofnext mohth,
a Congress of Philol ogists trom the different
countries of Europe, 20 discuss questions reiat''
;. i; eforn,t 10 pe,n,nes and to prepare the way