messages at sea

Happy 2017! As we look to the year ahead, a message from the past, from my pre-Christmas inbox, thanks to Patryk. This time he takes me to 1960, to the classic war film Sink the Bismark! Central to the action and the quest to sink that ship, prominently positioned in the headquarters of the British Admiralty, is a large as life Lamson tube system.

Messages come and go, arriving in the background as characters plot and strategise. Apparently the tubes play an important role in catching the Bismark. I am only halfway through the movie so far, so I am yet to find out how, but you can see for yourself here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFWwPYB74ac

Thanks again Patryk for another piece of fantastic pneumatic post!

birthday post

It's my birthday coming up soon and I've received an early present from a very thoughtful gift-giver:

Yes, I now have my own capsule! It sits on my desk at the moment. I can feel its worn-away felt ends, cold metal body, thready canvas details. I can look inside at its rusty insides. The little door squeaks as it moves, a satisfying suck of air and click as it closes completely. These are the sensory and material details of pneumatic tubes which I love.

If I look closely, engraved on the capsule are the words "The Grover Co. Detroit". My gift giver helps me to research the capsule's provenance. We find that the Grover Company was selling pneumatic tubes at the same time as Lamson, in the early 20th century, servicing department stores whose needs had extended beyond their cash railway systems. William and Clarence Grover founded the company in Woodburn, Michigan, but had branches in Detroit too. In the 1950s the Grover Company filed patents for pneumatic tube terminals. According to the Cash Railway site, Swisslog is the company's descendant. 

I am sure there is much more to discover of the history of my tube.

Image my own.

that's what I call table service

A cafe in Christchurch soon promises to become very cool. Is it a new way of serving drip coffee? No. A new single origin blend? No. You guessed, it, it is all about pneumatic tubes. This cafe, C1 Espresso, not only already offers what Andy Warhol once dreamed of - sending customer orders to the kitchen by tube - but is promising much more: delivery of your order, directly to your table, by tube.


For now the cafe owners describe sending miniburgers by tube but one can imagine a whole host of different spherical food items that could be sent to customers' tables by the pneumatic system: pancakes, muffins, clams, poached eggs, bowls of ice-cream ... the list could be endless - and no problems with food getting too cold, or too warm, it is there in seconds! Just hope for a soft landing.