The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1872-08-26
TsAvELINa ISfHE AIR.
Pneumasic LScomotisn.
u,-o,,, tho-DGn%u Yrrk Times

possib,lttis6 and Probabilities Of
Pneumasic LScomotten.
From theNsR York Times.l
An experimental pneumatic tunnel ia
soon to be laid in Washington, from the
Capitol to the Treasury building, and
though this mode of transmission is not
a new one. considerable interest is ex~
cited in the matter, owing to the sur
prisiug claims set forth by it's projec
We are told that the experiment will
prove that bundles, packages, and par
GELS generally, can be sent to very
great distance in an incredibly short
space of time; in fact, that our New
York morning papers will, when the
tunnel is laid to Chicago, be delivered
to subscribers there ss early and as
regularly as they now are, to people
living IN Brooklyn and Jersey City. II
so wonderful q result can be obtained,
it is, indeed, worth a much larger ex-
penditure of public money than has
now been accorded to the work. BY a
simple extension OF q tnnnel, we can
have in February strawberries from
California, or the cherimoi of Peru,
which must be eaten twenty'four hours
after being plucked, brought fresh to
our dinner tables. In time, too, the
present system OF transportation will be
wholly changed and ships, steamers and
railroads will only be needed for moving
living freight
A doubt nevertheless arises that this
may, after all, be only the dream of q
theorist, and the suspicion finds a sor-
rowful confirmation when We look at
the previous attempts that have been
made in this direction. The idea oil
transmitting matter may by means oil
pneumanic pressure originated az early
as 1858, though it was put to no prac-
cal test untilsixteen years ago. Since
that reported trials have been made in
atmospheric railways for the Transports
ton Of passengers, and small tunnels
for papers and parcels. The thorough
trial that has been given the former,
and the want Of success. and conse-
auent abandonment of each attempt,
has convinced engineers that neither in
speed nor in. economy can system OF
this kind compete with locomotion by
steam power. For transmitting small
parcels it has been found, however,
that the pneumatic method answers
very we'll when the two points are but a
com paratively short distance apart. In
Berlin, Paris and London it is used,
either in connection with the general
telegraph or postoffices, for sending let
ters or messages to the local offices for
distribution. The amount Of time and
trouble saved in this way is really i'm
mense, the dispatches pass from one
place to another at an average rate
somewhat under a mile minute, and
arrangements have also been made so
that the same tube answers for several
distinct stations. At first sight it would
seem that this system might admit a
large and advantageous expansion, but
in attempting it we are stopped by a
natural law that will allow no evasion,
and which renders our Washington in
ventor's plan either absurdly expensive
or completely. futile.
The law governing pneumatic power,
as found by Mr.. Sabine, B. A., after a
number Of delicate experiments, is,
that the mean speed Of transmission
varies inversely with the square root
OF the diameter Of the tube" that is, il
it required one minute for a body to
pass through tube one mile long,
with the same force it would require
four minutes for 1t to pass through
one two miles long, or sixteen minutes
if the distance we're four miles. For
this reason, it will be seen that on the
proposed route to Chicago there would
have to be, every mile or two, expensive
relaysof air power, or else, even with
the highest conceivable propelling
force, the packages would move only al
snail's pace. The entire plan is, like
hundreds of others for great improve
ment, wholly imaginary, and we car
but wonder at the credulity OF Congress
men in allowing themselves to be be-
guided into voting money for the adj
vancement of q scheme 90 utterly de.
void Of Sc,antific or practical worth