Life before email: A look back at the 'vacuum post'

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Summary

Germany's high-speed vacuum-post system used a form of packet-switching almost a century before the internet was conceived. ZDNet UK went beneath the streets of Berlin to find the last remnants of this ground-breaking technology

Topics

Email, Post Office

Photo 2 of 8
PHOTO

Shown here are the high-pressure pipes that drive the vacuum post. A build-up of pressure is needed to send message containers through the system.

The obvious gap between the pipes, shown in the image above, marks the consequences of World War II. In the Cold War period, when Germany was split in two, so was the vacuum post. The service continued with the post heading off to the different parts of divided Berlin. According to our guide for the day, making an obvious gap between the East and West Berlin tubes helped reduce mistakes.

Talkback

My brother's first job was as a human back-up for an internal pneumatic mail system, and banks and hospitals still use "Lamson tubes".

There's an article here about the technology
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2004/0524widernettubes.html
and a company here that makes the kit
http://www.ptubes.com/tubeupgr.htm

The comparison with data networking isn't bonkers either. The cylinders would have machine-readable routing information on them, so mechanical devices could redirect them to the right destination.

Now if you want to talk crazy technology, how about vacuum driven Atmospheric Railways?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_railway

PeterJudge 27 November, 2008 15:44
Reply

I've seen this in use quite recently for sucking away tubes of excess cash (notes) in supermarket tills.

Tezzer 27 November, 2008 20:17
Reply

... I'm taking a Hoover and a pipe wrench.

PeterJudge 27 November, 2008 21:07
Reply

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