Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-10
PNEU MATIC MESSAGES
Letters and kilograms Sent All Over a
Great City Underground.
Rapid Transit Between the Paris
Once-Successful and Cheap.

There can be no doubt that before many
years all Of the great cities in this coun-
try will be provided with systems for con-
veying messages and kilograms by means
Of pneumatic tubes underground. Already
quite number Of the centers Of population
in Europe enjoy the advantages of this
Improvement, which has been brought to
the highest degree Of perfection in Paris.
In that city compressed air, distributed
from central stations, is supplied for mo-
tive power to factories, for the generation
of electricity, fer tha ventilation of large
buildings, for operating elevators ard
clocks in public and private buildings, etc.
1t is also employed for pumping water and
refrigerating and cleaning. Its use as
motive power for street car lines is ex-
tending rapidly.
Letters by Pneumatic Tubes.
In Paris the pneumatic tube system az
fords a cheap, speedy and always reliable
method Of postal communication. 1t is
employed not only for the purpose of send
ing messages originating in the city, but
also for the distribution to substations, in
all parts Of the capital of kilograms from
the provinces and from abroad. Less than
an hour is required ordinarily for the
transmission of a message within the city
limits-that is to say, from the time OF
mailing to it's final delivery at the house
addressed. This system is so successful
and SO we'll adapted to the Leeds of the
people that the use of the electric tele-
graph in Paris itself is comparatively
small.
The pneumatic telegram has many adj
vantages ever the WIRE There can be no
such thing block caused by rush of
business The operator takes all the mes
sageS at the same time, and places them
In a box, which IS at once dispatched to
the substation in the proper quarter of the
city. No errors in transmission occur. The
message travels at the rate of about forty
miles an hour. The written cards or tele-
grams are inclosed in cylindrical boxes of
sheet iron. with envelopes of leather, and
these are fastened together in trains" be-
fore they are started on journey. They
travel through pipes underground, which
pass along the galleries Of the sewers
wherever that Is practicable.
There used to be great deal OF trouble,
previous to the construction of the present
pneumatic system. in transmitting tele-
grams rapidly enough between the central
telegraph office at Paris and the bourse or
stock exchange. An effort was made to
overcome this diff1cu by means Of couri-
ers, who made trips every fifteen minutes
between the great market and the central
Office. These couriers conveyed the latest
quotations from the bourse to the central
station, whence they were disseminated
far and wide by telegraph. Returning
Paris by wire from the provinces and from
abroad. This was only temporary ex-
pedent, and it was soon supplanted by a
Subterranean conduit from the bourse to
the central office, a distance of 765 yards.
This was the beginning of the pneumatic
telegraphs of Paris, which now form net
work communicating with every part Of
the capital. Today the aggregate length Of
these lines Is 1856 miles,
The Tubes and Boxes.
There are 1O5 postal bureaus or branch
post offices in Paris. all of which are equip
xx,if IL f1,ha ba
up to date has been about s1,544,00 The
lines run through soldered iron tubes, the
sections being connected by joints and
bolts The interior diameter of the tubes
is from two and a half to three inches
They are sunk in the earth at an average
depth of about three feet. The boxes form
ing the train contain about thirty-fve mes
sages EACH The leather coverings ordi-
narily wear out after they have Travelled
1900 miles, when, of course, they are re-
newed. At the beginning the water works
Of the city of Paris were used to furnish
power for COMPRISING the air, but steam
power has been substituted and Is now en-
ployed exclusively.
Electricity and Compressed Air.
A project has been formulated, and is
now under study by the French govern
ment, for the substitution of electricity for
compressed air as motive power. This
project, which would involve an enormous
~ "a
system of small-gauge railways, laid I'M
derground in tubes, to be operated by cleo
tricity.- 1t is improbable that this project
will be adopted in the near future, II at all.
The present system is operated very sue
cessfully, and with great economy. There
is much difference Of opinion among ens1-
neers as to whether better results would be
obtained from tubular electric railways,
while there is strong and growing opposi-
ton to the indefinite multiplication OF I'M
derground electric currents.
The Department of State will soon pub
lish quite an elaborate report on this sub
ject, in che course Of which 1t is mentioned
that the expense of pneumatic kilograms is
very much less than that Of electric tele.
grams in the United States. The length Of
the message is only limited by the space OF
telegram, which will contain quite long
communication, costs only 10 cents: 1t Is
not exposed to the danger of mistake In
Transmission or to public scrutiny, and, as
a general rule, reaches its destination al
most as quickly as an electrical telegram.