The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-10-15
BLOWING A TELEGRAM.
The Postoff1ce at London is Now Using
the Pneumatic System.
FROM the Pittsbtr0 Dispateh.

From the Pittsbur0 Dispdtch.
LONDON, Sept. 3O.-Americans familiar
with Paris have probably often received OF
sent a carte telegraphique. or, II they hav'
been lordly in their expenditures, they may
/ have invested an extra twopence on &
closed telegraphic letter. In either case
| they have been able TO send a message IN
limited in the number OF words, at a speed
that completes with the electric telegraph,
The secret is simple. Traversing Paris Is
| system of pneumatic tubes connected VIII
the different telegraph offices and the mes
sage, instead of being wired" is blown TO
| its destination. OF course the actual journey
takes longer. but no time is lost In operating
| and transcribing she message. The identlcaI
| piece of card or paper on which the sender
| wrote is handed 20 his correspondent at the
other side Of Paris. Consequently, although
the air current is TO the electric In speed as
the tortoise to the hare, yet, ike the tor
totse, the air message wins the race. 90
An almost identical system preValis III
London, for the benefit, not Of the puonc,
but OF the postoffice. The actual form on
which the message was written Is puU lu 'I
a little cloth box, called a carrier anu
blown through a tube to the central tel9-
| graph office at St. Martin 's-le-Granu' IL Is
| there placed in another tube and blown on
| ward to its destination-say LeadehnAH
| street. So far no operator or transcrlOer
has touched 10, and no electric needle mas
oscillated to convey its meaning. Ane act
| ual piece OF paper that was uanueu IA a.
| West Strand is now, after the lapse Oh Aour
or five minutes, at LeadsnhaI street.
DELIBERATELY DECEIyING THE PUBLIC.
But it would never do TO let this same
piece OF paper fall into the hands Of the per-
son 70 whom Il il addressed. The secret of
its transmission would then be out, and the
publio would clamor against being charged
Geographic rates for a message that Is not
| teIegraphic So the twelve words are care
fully copied on pink telegram form. and
thus. blushing at the official deception, are
delivered to the ADDRESSED.
The method Of working the tube system
is easily described. In the basement of the
Central telegraph office at St Martin's-le-
| Grand are four powerful engines, which
work the same number of air pumps. The
pumps are so arranged that they exhaust
the air from large cylinder. To these two
cylinders all the tubes that radiate under
ground from the @. P. O. are connected.
The tubes are in most Gases inches in diam
eter, and the ''carrier" Is little cylinder of
buff cloth, about 8 inches long, that fits
nicely inside the tube. Into this carrier are
placed the messages, In bundles OF perhaps
IS or 100 at time. II the messages have
to travel inward to the @. P. O.-say from
the West Strand-the little carrier would
be put into the up tube, which is connected
with the vacuum cylinder In the basement
OF the central building. Directly it is
dropped into the tube at West Strand, and
the valve opened to let it pass, the little
carrier finds in front of IL almost q com
plete vacuum, and behind it the pressure
OF the atmosphere. By this pressure 1t
Is driven along at the rate of about
half a mile q minute. and delivered
into the central hall at the general postofice
vest. A boy takes the carrier out of the
tube and the bundle Of messages out of the
carrier. These are rapidly sorted By girls
seated in the same room, and made up into
other bundles to go out TO different offices
As soon as a bundle of fifty or more Ia ready
for, say, West Strand again, an outgoing
carrier Is filed and placed in the down tube
connected with the pressure cylinder and
pushed outwards by the compressed air at
about the same speed that the other carried
had been sucked inwards.
TIE WHOLE CITY IS TUBED.
Some idea of the extent 20 which the
postofflce carries this system of blowing
messages which the public believes to be
wired can be gained from the fact that prac-
tically the whole of the city is covered by
the pneumatic system, which tubes extend
as far as Southampton row to the west, end
as far as the House of Commons 70 the
southwest. 10 other words. throughout the
,,
throughout the heart of Acknowledgement
Is now at an end, and the electric wire has
given place TO the pneumatic tube.
The speed, however, is not uniform; the
greater the distance from the pumping GEN.
ter, the slower the rate at which the carrier
travels That is a consequence of mechan.
ical laws. and its effects can only be obvi-
ated by having intermediate pumping sta
tions. The carrier would then be sucked
part of its journey and pushed the rest, and
in this way longer distances than any YET
attempted could be covered, and the whole
| of London could be brought under the pneu.
| matic system. s.
This change has been made for the benefit
of the postofflce revenue, noH for the benefit
of the public, says Pail AoH Budget OuI
| proposal il that the tube system should be
extended over the whole of London, and
that the public should be admitted to a
share in It's advantages, the first undoubt
| edlY Is that long message can be sent BY
! tube for the same cost and at the same speed
as the twelve words Of sixpenny telegram
In Paris the charge for a closed telegraph
letter Is tvepence, and there is room foI
more than 100 words on the sheet of paper
supplied; for telegram in Paris the charge
is fivepence for ten words.
NO MISTAKES AND VERY CONFIDENTIAL
And In Paris, though the tube system
there 1s far from perfect, the pneumatic
message-the pneumagram, let US call it
often outstrlps the telegram. In London
the large telegram form on which messages
are now written by the public would. If II
were a clean sheet Of paper, have room for
at least 200 words; and clearly it could moi
cost more TO the postofflce to blow a piece
of paper covered with 200 words in manu-.
script and the rest in official print. Indeed
the pneumatic system, If its advantages
were thrown open TO the public, would cost
the postoftioe less than at present. For now
in order to keep the public in the dark
each message is copied out before delivery,
This is purely a waste Of labor,
A pneumagram would be folded and
gummed down by the sender, with the ad.
dress written on the outside; the telegraph
officials at the delivering office would have
nothing TO do but TO send out the document
for delivery. Besides the sixpenny pneu-
magram would be as free from the posi-
bility of error and as confidential as th,
penny letter. No operators would see ii tc
betray its contents.