TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...

When New York launched its pneumatic-tube mail system in the fall of 1897, postal workers tested it out by sending canisters loaded with a Bible wrapped in an American flag, an artificial peach, a ...

The inaugural episode of The Untapped New York Podcast was a dive into my favorite subject of all time: New York City’s pneumatic tube mail system. One of the highlights of this exploration was ...

In the late 1890s, networks of pneumatic tube systems were installed under city streets to move the mail. Each pneumatic tube canister could hold up to 500 letters. The canisters, also known as ...

A Globe reporter in 1900 asked the city’s top minds what the year 2000 would look like. Some things they got right, others they got wrong. One prediction was that a pneumatic tube system would connect ...

You want to mail something quickly and securely? Send it via pneumatic tube transport. This 170-year-old technology is enjoying a revival, as it helps companies and hospitals save millions on delivery ...

“N.Y. Post Office Pneumatic Tube” c. 1912. Photo via Library of Congress Today, we’ll show you where some remnants of the system are and where pneumatic tubes are still used in the city. Not only is ...

In 1953, NYC retired its pneumatic tube-aided mail system, which stretched 27 miles long and connected 23 post offices. But there are still remnants of the obsolete technology scattered throughout the ...

All of the buzz about Elon Musk's Hyperloop has Gizmodo and the Times remembering the original underground compressed air-based transportation idea—Alfred Ely Beach's Pneumatic Tunnel, built in 1869.

In the late 1890s, networks of pneumatic tube systems were installed under city streets to move the mail. Each pneumatic tube canister could hold up to 500 letters. The canisters, also known as ...