The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-12-03
FUTURE TRANSIT.

Be careful, said my guide; "there
is only one more step"
Descending safely tho step thus in
dicated, found myself in vast hall
illuminated by the binding radiance of
electric lights, our footsteps alone sound
ing in the silence.
Where was /? Why did l come
there? Who was my mysterious guide?"
There was no response to these inter
rogations.
A long journey i'll tho night, doors of
iron opened and closed noisily, the
descent of staircases deeply sunk in the
earth-that WAS all | could succeed in
remembering -indced had no leisure
to think.
You arc undoubtedly asking who
am and where you are?" said nv
guide. Il Am Colonel Pierce, ut your
service, and we are in America in the
city of Boston, in station
A station?" said /.
Yes, the terminus of the Boston and
Liverpool Pneumatic Tube company,
and with Il gesture of explanation Colo
mel Pierce pointed to two long iron cyl
inders about two meters in diameter
which We're not far from us.
gazcd upon these two cylinders, set
In mass of masonry. having enormous
metallic obturators, from whence sew
eral iron tunnels extended, passing
through the ceiling And all at once
| understood.
remembered to have read short
time previously, in IN American news
paper, an article rccounting an cxtraor-
binary scheme for uniting Europe and
the new world by two gigantic tubes
under the ocean. An invention had
been made. and the inventor was the
very Colonel Pierce who was my pres
ent guide. l again read, i'll thought, the
article i'll the newspaper.
The reporter went into all tho de-
tails of the enterprise. He wrote
that it was constructed of iron, of
length of 5000, 900 meters, weigh
Ing 5000, 600 tons; that 200 vessels
Of 1000 tons each were necessary to
transport the material, each vessel max
ing 33 voyages. He showed that this
scientific armada carried tho steel to
two vessels ut each end of the route, on
board of which the ends of the tubes
were held. He explained that the tubes
themselves were extended under the
waves without intcrmission in sections
Of three meters screwed together and
powerfully bound by triple band of
steel plate covered with II coat of rosin,
In regard to the matter of its work
Ing: The tubes, which resemble two gi-
gantic pea shooters, carried in their in
teriors series of passenger cars which
were impelled by powerful currents of
air in the same manner as the present
pneumatic process.
A comparison with the steam rail
road system concluded the description,
and the author enthusiastically enum-
Grated the advantages of the new and
audaciOuS system. In the tubes there
are no disagreeable noises TO cause nerv-
GUS trepidation, thanks to the internal
surface, which is of polished steel. The
temperature is even, the currents of
air being modified according to the sea
sons, and the rates for passengers or
merchandise being extremely moderate
by reason of the economic construction
and tho comparatively small running
expenses required for working the in
vention
And the writer went OH to state, for
getting that, despite the 1 ,6GG kilome-
tiers which the rotation of the earth
makes each hour, bodies situated at the
equator are still subject to the laws of
gravity, forgetting that it would be
necessary to he released from the oper-
alton of these laws to have speed II
times greater-he went so far as to as
sert that trains in consequence of the
rapidity of their movement and the
curving of the earth would be subject
to SO small an amount of friction that
they could be used indefinitely, perhaps
to all eternity.
All that came to my mind then and
there Thus this Utopia had become
reality, and those two cylinders of iron
that were near me extended beyond the
Atlantic and welded together, as it
were, the two continents! Despite
what saw 1 was not able to convince
myself. There were the tubes truly,
but that passengers could be taken by
that route 1 could not bring myself to
believe.
WAS it possible that complete cur
rent of air could be established of that
length?" l formulated this question
aloud.
Every easily" answered Colonel
Pierce. "a large number of blasts.
similar to those emanating from n huge
furnace, are sufficient for the purpose
The air is forced back with power al
most without limit, causing n frightful
whirlwind, which has rapidly of
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