920 transactioys of the american institute. 



Pneumatic Locomotion — Historical Sketch of the New Locomo- 

 tive PoWEK. 



The exhibition of a section of pneumatic railway in perfect opera- 

 tion .at the late American Listitute fair, attracted nnmerous visitors 

 to that exposition of tlie. results of nature, talent, enterprise and 

 industry, and did not fail to awaken public curiosity as to the history 

 of this agent of locomotion. We have pleasure in giving our readers 

 a brief sketcli of the progress made since the earliest ventilation of 

 the idea of this application of pneumatics, with such facts and figures 

 as will illustrate its progress, show "what is now being done, and the 

 plans on foot which promise to enable ns before many years to "raise 

 the wind " at will and blow ourselves not only throiigh our cities, but, 

 if the principle holds out, and the enthusiasts' dreams are realized, 

 from continent to continent with all but telegraphic speed. 



Historical Sketch. 



Until somebody digs a pneumatic railway fi'om beneath the ashes 

 of Herciilaneum or Pompeii, oi- by such a discovery at some other 

 source startles us again with the oft -repeated saw that "under the 

 sun there is nothing new," we are content to take it for granted, as 

 set down upon the records, that the first attempt to use atmospheric 

 pressure as a power for locomotive purposes was that made iu 1810 

 by a Danish .engineer named Medhursz, who then, it is said, origina- 

 ted the idea of carrying mail matter in a pipe. Too little is said of 

 bis laboi's to lead us to any otlier conclusion than that, like many 

 other men of genius, his labor ended when the seed was sown ; tlie 

 harvest was for those who followed after. Following him, we have 

 an Englishman named Yallance who, in England, in 1824, not only 

 exhibited plans for the pneumatic dispatch carrier, but also those for 

 the conveyance of passengei's l)y the same agent through London. 

 It was not, however, until 1832 that plans were so matured that 

 they obtained much fa'^-or with the public, always slow to move. 

 Erom that time, however, until 1838, the question of pneumatic 

 locomotion was well canvassed, i^esulting, in the latter year, in the 

 patenting of plans by Clegg and Sainuda, which capitalists con- 

 sidered practicable. These plans, nevertheless, were not put into 

 operation for a considerable time. The atmospheric raih-oad from 

 Dalkey to Kingston, near Dublin, Ireland, was the first constructed, 

 i» length about two miles. Soon after followed tliat in Croydon, 

 England, over six miles long, and in 1845 that of St. Germain, near 



