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Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:10 pm
by LibraryLady2
Our drive through banking uses pneumatic tubes for the exchange/delivery of the money.
Our son says that he has not seen that in banks in Ottawa.

I recall that in the 1960s a department store in Denton (on the square) used pneumatic tubes for financial transactions.
Clerk put in money and sales total and shot it upstairs and change was returned. Husband says a store in Brady had a similar set up.
--That would prevent outside and inside theft, I would think.

Son said he read that in Prague the mail was once moved about the city in pneumatic tubes.

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:23 pm
by Sangersteve
Still big business, a lot of medical uses.

One of the companies that makes the systems.

http://www.swisslog.com/en/Products/HCS ... -Hospitals

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:33 pm
by planosteve
My grandfather was the Sec./Treasurer of a 3 outlet dept store in Kansas in the thirties and fourties. Instead of a cash register in every dept, they used a pneumatic tube system that sent the payment up to the 2nd floor cashier who made change and sent it back to the clerk station. There was a big wind machine in the basement that created the vacuum.

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 4:38 pm
by jellowrestling

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:19 pm
by ralph
I remember seeing them in Pennys , Sears , yada , yada maybe 50 some years ago .

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 5:44 pm
by BigTex
LibraryLady2 wrote:Our drive through banking uses pneumatic tubes for the exchange/delivery of the money.
Our son says that he has not seen that in banks in Ottawa.

I recall that in the 1960s a department store in Denton (on the square) used pneumatic tubes for financial transactions.
Clerk put in money and sales total and shot it upstairs and change was returned. Husband says a store in Brady had a similar set up.
--That would prevent outside and inside theft, I would think.

Son said he read that in Prague the mail was once moved about the city in pneumatic tubes.


The store on the square in Denton was J.C. Penny's. They abandoned that system when they moved (1964?). An appliance store took over the location and has been there ever since, but I'm pretty sure the tube system went away when Penny's moved.

Hospitals use tube systems to send specimens to the lab. When blood became a big issue, it was quite an ordeal if a blood specimen broke in the tube system. The tubes had to be shut down and cleaned out however they got cleaned out. Now I think it's a federal regulation that you can't send blood through a tube system.

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 9:12 pm
by RedEye
Almost all Costco Pharmacies use them. You can see the clear plastic tubes going from the pharmacy overhead to a secure area for some drugs.

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 8:31 am
by LibraryLady2
Re: Denton Square store

I think it was a locally owned store....seems like it was a store that began with a B. (I'm not sure at this point in my life)
The store I had in mind was on the east side of the square. Now that I am thinking about it, if Penny's was on the square, it was before I came to Denton (which was the fall of 63).

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Sun Jan 01, 2017 12:42 pm
by BigTex
You're probably thinking of Beall's on the east side, but i don't remember them using tubes.

Penny's was on the north side where McNeils Appliances is now.

Re: Pneumatic tubes

Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2017 12:29 am
by jellowrestling
Most people probably don't know that the first attempt at a subway in New York was with a pneumatic tube:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Pneumatic_Transit