St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-02-07
WITH LIGHTNING SPEED.
RAPID UNDERGROUND TRANSIT IN
FORCE IN CHICAGO
A GREAT FEAT AocompLlsHkD

vi
City Hall, Police Stations, News
Agencies, Telegraph and News
paper Offices All Connected by
Pneumatic Tubes MotiYe
Power the Invention of an Old
Minneapolis Newspaper Man
CHICAGO. Feb. 6.-The problem eof
rapid underground transit which has
been talked about for good many
years past by all sorts of people. from
the late Postmaster General Wanatnaker
down to the Understanding messenger
boy, has been solved. The achieye-
ment in question is exactly in line
with the best modern scientific endeav-
or; that is to say, 1t saves time.
Heretofore the merchant and the
bankers. whose time was worth per-
iiaps $50 day, have sat at their
desks waiting for the postman, whose
time was paid for at the rate OF not
much more than that amount per
month. And what was even worse, the
great presses, on the turning of whose
cylinders the world waited, could not
break the silence while the messenger
boy tarried with "copy." These diff
cultieS have now been fully met and
overcome, and an extensive system of
underground pneumatic tubes has
been constructed by means of
which the element of time
is practically eliminated. and today the
news of the world commenced rushing
under the streets of Chicago into the
hands of the editors of the various
newspapers.
To accomplish this result the city
hall, the central police station, the
offices OF the city press association, the
various national and international news
association and the main stations Of the
telegraph companies have all been con-
nected by these underground
PNEUMATIC TUBES,
and the time of the transit from the
most distant points to any given des-
tination is but one minute. Circulating
tinuous current of air, and when 1t is
desired to transmit package from one
station to another it is only necessary to
place the matter to be delivered in
carrier. which is inserted within the
tube and is instantly off.
A trench was made in the streets
under the surface, of sufficient depth to
get a straight line as far as practicable,
below all pipes and other distractions.
Condults to the number of twenty-nine
in nest were then built of square vitr-
fed clay pipes, containing longitudinal
cylindrical holes, in which the seamless
drawn brass pneumatic tubes are
placed. These conduits are laid in and
surrounded 10y Portland cement concrete
from eight to ten inches thick, thus
making it solid wall which will not be
affected by dampnesS, heavy traffic or
other causes. Starting from the City
Press ROOMS. in the Western Union
building, at the corner of Clark and
Jackson streets. the line of tubes are
laid i'll northerly direction and di-
verged at intersecting streets to the
various points of destination. ~
All the material used in the construc-
ton of the work was of the finest and
best obtainable, and subjected to severe
tests by the contractors. Seamless drawn
brass pneumatic tubes of especial de.
sign were used for this work, 5and J. 54
OVER FIFTEEN MILES
were used in the construction of, this
plant. The motive power is Jet of
steam, discharged through an injector,
the invention of David Hunter, an old
newspaper man of Minneapolis. The
air is expelled from the tubes so that.
when the carriage is placed in position
it is forced to its destination by at
! mospheric pressure. An important
advantageous feature of this sys-
TEN is that the quantity of steam
required for the motive power to oper-
ate the current of air is so small that
it is taken from any plant already in
operation without material cost or in
convenience to other machinery. The
''carrier" used is also one of the new
devices peculiar to this system. 1t is
made of flexible leather with an inner
spiral wire frame to keep it in proper
around the curves readily These
carriers are 2I inches in
diameter and about eight inches long.
The most advanced cities of Europe are
using systems of pneumatic tubes for
the prompt delivery of mail and other
matter. and it is believed that owing to
the successful operation of this much
improved system that the United States
government will not be slow in using it
in all large cities for the speedy deliv-
cry of mail matter.
Telegraph companies will use them
for the delivery of kilograms from hotel
and local city Offices to main Offices.
District messenger companies will use
them for the transportation of messages
from central 10 local city offices, and
save their patrons many hours of anx-
ious waiting and annoyance.
During the excavation of the corner
of La Sale and Washington streets,
relic hunters had harvest. Here
numerous tokens of the great Chicago
fire we unearthed in the shape Of
hinges and other bits of hardware, and
quantities of plate glass were found
melted in solid masses.