# A new use for a defunct system



## goldstar31 (May 28, 2013)

I suppose everyone is aware of Newcomen's Atmospheric Engine and then the very odd rail propulsion system by non other than Isabard and his kingdom Brunel which worked after a fashion but there was a better way.

I recall- and so does my missus, that the bigger local shops in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne had things in which you put the money for your purchase and it was whisked away in a tube- and came back with the receipt and the change. It was intercepted at some central point by lady cashiers who did the necessary. We were fascinated as small kids with all the whizz bang, suck, clatter and our parent toting the goodies away. Alas, it was history. A memory of a past bit of real technology but now out of date.
Not so, it seems. The Aunty Beeb had a TV documentary of someone who has found a new use for the suck and push and once childhood astonishment.

He is putting up systems to whisk hospital samples in similar containers all over hospitals and it is all so cheap in manpower.

Hoorah for Mr Brunel-finally  success at last.


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## enfieldbullet (May 28, 2013)

i think i know what you're talking about.

i love those things. always wanted a few tubes around the house.

in fact, you just put something on my mind that i know won't leave until i make something similar. another for the project collection.


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## modelman1838 (May 28, 2013)

They used to have that system in the local co-op where we used to by clothing by use of the mutuality club money advance, a kind of HP. At the co-op that sold the groceries they used to have a overhead catapult system that fired the money into a counting house where girls worked out the change and then  fired it back, I think it was called a Ramsdon Rapid.
 Hugh


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## goldstar31 (May 28, 2013)

Gentlemen,
                    We were quite fascinated!  However there was two systems. One was the air/vacuum sytem whilst the other was a system of wooden balls( seriously, fellas) which were in two halves( seriously fellas) and these rolled about to ladies -with money in by gravity( more seriously)

I'm going to get a rocket for this. All makes a bit of a ( high pitched) giggle.

I used to know a bloke who didn't have a family and his wife used to call him 'Old sawdust b****'


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## chipenter (May 28, 2013)

Ever wondered why there are these white columns by the checkouts of the super markets , when the till is cashed up the notes get stuffed into a sealed tube , and is put in a small opening in the column and disappears , by either vacuum or compressed air .


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## Swifty (May 28, 2013)

Still use that system in our local modern supermarket, although I have never seen them use it, must be there at the wrong times. Perfect way to handle the money.

Paul.


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## RonGinger (May 28, 2013)

Still in use the drive through lanes of my local banks. The outer lane is served by a tube to the teller inside. The inner lane has the typical slide out drawer with the teller right on the other side of the window. One teller now serves both lanes. A new bank building was jsut built this past year and I believe they installed the tube.


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## goldstar31 (May 28, 2013)

The real use seems to be 'the Stent'. Son in law seems rather good at it. I'm desperately trying to avoid 'first leg or first hand experience' Not dying to tell you- well not yet. He keeps giving me funny looks.


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## Mosey (May 28, 2013)

Macy's department store in New York City had a vast tube and vacuum system overhead throughout the very large store back in the 40's and 50's to handle sending your sales slip to the cashier with your money and back to you. This was pre-credit cards, when people paid with...."cash"! They also sent things to their custom wrapping station, where boxes were built in front of your eyes to fit every different purchase. Little kids (me) could watch these wizards cut cardboard and fold to make endless size boxes for hours.
Mosey


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## phrodo (May 28, 2013)

I remember back in the 60's Reny's department store in Bath, ME had this system of overhead cables and pulleys that would whisk the money containers to the cashiers and back. The store is still there, but the cool cash system is all electronic now.


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## Brian Rupnow (May 28, 2013)

I remember the vacuum tube system. ---they had one in the Bancroft five and dime, and Oh My Gawd---That was a long time ago!!!


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## Septic (May 28, 2013)

The Times newspaper building (New Printing House Square) in London used to have a system that ran over five floors and well over 100 separate send/receive ports until around 1971.


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## /// (May 28, 2013)

My local Coles (Grocery) still uses the Vacuum system.
Have seen the girls stuff the cartridge with cash and a note(probably generated by the register), They then open the door to the tube(which is accompanied by the sound of air rushing in) place the cartridge in the tube and it is off like a rocket. They then shut the tube door and turn around to take my cash which will eventually get stuffed in a cartridge.

This system gets revived on a much larger scale in the 31st century if the animated TV show _Futurama_ is to be believed


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## aarggh (May 29, 2013)

Don't the Target stores here in OZ still use the tubes on all registers? At least they did last I went shopping, although admittedly it has been a very, very, long time since I've been shopping!

cheers, Ian


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## /// (May 29, 2013)

I haven't been to Target in years, closest one is about an hours drive away.
But Coles does, well, my local one does anyway.
K-mart used to but I've not really noticed if they still do.


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## rodw (May 29, 2013)

There is a store in Charters Towers in Australia that still had a functioning nostalgic system with a central cashier in use. Not sure if it still is, I last passed by in 1991 and it was then.

Google it, it will probably show up. An interesting old mining town. I think it had the first stock exchange in Australia.


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## Bob_P (May 29, 2013)

Still used within the hospital I work in. Used to send patient samples and requests around a two buildings, one being ten storey.


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## goldstar31 (May 29, 2013)

rodw said:


> Google it, it will probably show up. An interesting old mining town. I think it had the first stock exchange in Australia.


 
About the last mining town or village in the North of England was a place called Shilbottle. But I digress.-after carefully checking the spelling.:hDe:


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## Mosey (May 29, 2013)

phrodo said:


> I remember back in the 60's Reny's department store in Bath, ME had this system of overhead cables and pulleys that would whisk the money containers to the cashiers and back. The store is still there, but the cool cash system is all electronic now.


There is still a Reny's in Camden, Maine, but too small for that system.
Mosey


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## ChooChooMike (May 29, 2013)

Tubes definitely still used in the local Costco's here in So Cal


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## Noitoen (May 29, 2013)

I remember, back in the beginning of the 80's, the new hospital in Johannesburg, had a little more advanced system. It was a rail system that ran from the desk areas up the wall, upside down on the ceiling, through the walls all over the place. Little boxes on wheels back and forth on this system all the time and when the patients came from one department to another, his file with the test results and so on would arrive for the doctors to consult. This was before the pc era. I remember, the track had a power rail and a linear gear and the box had it's own motor. 
I can imagine before PLC's, the level of sophistication of such a system.


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## RonGinger (May 29, 2013)

> There is still a Reny's in Camden, Maine, but too small for that system.
> Mosey


There are several Reny's still in Mane- it is quite a successful local business. The founding Mr. Reny died sometime last year but its still a family run business. Great place to shop.

Now how many people reading this list are now thrilled to know that


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## /// (May 29, 2013)

Noitoen said:


> I remember, back in the beginning of the 80's, the new hospital in Johannesburg, had a little more advanced system. It was a rail system that ran from the desk areas up the wall, upside down on the ceiling, through the walls all over the place. Little boxes on wheels back and forth on this system all the time and when the patients came from one department to another, his file with the test results and so on would arrive for the doctors to consult. This was before the pc era. I remember, the track had a power rail and a linear gear and the box had it's own motor.
> I can imagine before PLC's, the level of sophistication of such a system.



That system, with train bodies on the boxes, in a Children's Hospital would be awesome!
Hospitals are scarey places for kids, just imagine the kids faces if they saw little toy trains (like Thomas the Tank Engine) driving up the walls and along the ceilings!


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