16th January 1945
Prague - Pneumatic Post

Prague - Pneumatic postal service

From Wikipedia:

Prague pneumatic post is the world's last preserved municipal pneumatic post system. It is an underground system of metal tubes under the wider centre of Prague, totalling about 55 km (34 miles) in length. The system started service in 1889 and remained in use by the government, banks and the media until it was rendered inoperative by the August 2002 European floods.

The system uses aluminium capsules measuring 48 mm in outer-diameter and 200 mm in length. On the rear end they are fitted with a plastic circlet, preventing friction against walls of the pipe and a soft plastic skirt, sealing air behind the capsule. The diameter of the rear circlet is 57 mm. The remaining 8 mm of the bore are sealed just by the skirt, allowing for excellent airtightness and low friction at the same time.

Each lane is equipped with a dedicated propulsion unit, consisting of an electrically-powered air pump. One pump can service at most 3 km of pipeline, so it's necessary to use several pumps on longer lanes.

Prague pneumatic post network consists of five main lanes arranged in a star topology, fitted with switches and concentrators, and of subscriber's lines. The total length of the lanes is about 55 km. Some of the most frequented segments have two pipes (one for each direction), but the majority of the lanes use a single pipe and the direction is determined by setting up the pumps to run in the desired direction. The main lanes connect the following post offices and bureaus:

• Jindřišská – Prague 2, Prague 3, Prague 10

• Jindřišská – Prague 1, Prague 2

• Jindřišská – Prague 5

• Jindřišská – Prague 6

• Jindřišská – Prague 7

All the lanes converge to the main post office in Jindřišská Street. Here, all the packages were carefully recorded and from here the network was controlled and monitored. This is also the place where the packages were forwarded from one lane to another. The capsule was picked up from a receiving pocket by a member of staff, recorded and inserted into the inlet of another lane.

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