Proceedings of the Polytechnic Association. 923 



above stated, were most successful, and received, as thej merited, a 

 great deal of public attention and commendation. The Electric and 

 International Telegraph Company, it is true, had for several years 

 used tubes, through which, on the same principle, they had dis- 

 patched messages between tlieir city stations ; but the invention of 

 the all but perfected apparatus above described is due to T. W. Ram- 

 mell, a civil engineer, who became the secretary of the new company. 

 Tlie company was organized under the chairmanship of the marquis 

 of Cliandos, and from the outset obtained a most generous support. 

 Charters were granted for the opening of streets to lay down tubes 

 to establish a line between St. Martin's-le-Grand to one of the dis- 

 trict post-offices, and subsequently to connect railway stations, public 

 offices, &c. Early in 1863, the company had already made rapid 

 forward strides, having established a most successfully working con- 

 nection between Euston terminus of the London and Northwestern 

 railway and the district post-office in Eversholt street. Through the 

 pneumatic tube connecting these points, 1,800 feet long, all the mail 

 matter brought into the city from the north and northwest by tliis 

 great carrier was transj)orted with great saving of time and labor, 

 and assured safety to the mails. Fifteen great mails per day were 

 thus transmitted. 



In 1864 a tube, or rather tunnel, was constrticted in the grounds 

 of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham, 600 yards long, through which 

 thousands of passengers were carried, propelled by a current of air 

 generated by an immense fan, and again drawn back by a vacuum 

 created by that instrument. The conveyance was a long, roomy, 

 comfortable carriage, resembling an elongated stage, and capable of 

 accommodating thirty passengers. Passengers entered this at either 

 end, the entrances being closed with sliding glass doors. Fixed 

 behind the carriage was a frame-work of the same form and nearly of 

 the same dimensions as the sectional area of the tunnel or tube, and 

 attached to the outer edge of this frame was a fringe of bristles 

 forming a thick brush. As the carriages moved through the tunnel 

 the brush came in close contact with the arch, thus to a sufficient 

 extent preventing the escape of air. With this elastic collar around 

 it, the carriage formed a close-fitting piston, against which the 

 propulsive force was directed. Notwithstanding that there was a 

 curve in the tunnel that was very sharp and the gradients as high as 

 one in fifteen, the motion was easier and steadier than ordinary 

 railroad traveling. The journey of 600 yards was performed either 



