| Many cities had bulk mail pneumatic systems from the late 1800s into the post-WWI era, but Paris had a specific class of mail which was like a cross between a courier and a telegram served by the pneumatic system (which was big for handwritten love letters[0]) Pneumatic tubes interestingly started out as a bandwidth problem for telegraph operators. You couldn't cram enough operators and telegraph infrastructure into the stock exchange of London or Paris so the telegraph companies would have a dedicated pneumatic tube for sending paper dispatches from the stock exchange a few blocks to the telegraph headquarters, where hundreds of operators would then relay the information over wire. IMO, pneumatic technology peaked in 1920s Berlin where at the Resi night club you could give someone presents and recreational drugs delivered via pneumatic tube directly to their table.[1] I collected a bunch of ephemera about pneumatic tube and cash railway systems a while back. Highlights include a viscious scalping, notable passengers (cats, mice, spiders, kids, and the 3rd Duke of Buckingham), and many videos and pictures of surviving systems in operation. Here are my notes.[2] [0] https://www.nytimes.com/1925/11/21/archives/grandson-of-bret... [1] https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/pneumatic-tube-table-p... [2] https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FHI8AMI74jPrVXBHLjBCwz2x... |