IN A windowless room in a London basement, there's a device on the wall that makes things disappear. Technicians file in, grasping large containers shaped like drug capsules and stuffing bags into them. One places his container into the device, taps in a code on a panel, and whoosh, it's gone. A few minutes later, the capsule reappears a kilometre away.
The device employs a technology that was supposed to have faded away decades ago – pneumatic tubes. Hidden in the walls is a vast computer-controlled network of pipes propelling capsules via air pressure and vacuum. Installed in the early 2000s, it is one of many places worldwide boasting a high-tech pneumatic network. Some places have hundreds of stations, fed by several kilometres of tubes and junctions.
Pneumatic tubes were once heralded as the future of communication and delivery. Indeed, some think their history echoes the way today's information technology ...
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