Have You Ever Used One Of These?

[Rick Rowlands]

THe P&LE Railroad had a pneumatic tube system at Gateway Yard.  When a train would come in the yard at Center Street a clerk would have a copy of the train manifest and check the document against what was actually in the train.  After checking the train the clerk would put the mainfest in the tube and send it all the way down to the hump crest building on the other side of Bridge Street, a distance of a couple of miles.  So obviously this system wasn't just for short distances but could go for miles as well.

[Smokey362]

I remember those things....Livingstons had them.  When a woman would buy something, the clerk would put the transaction and the money in the tube and in a few seconds the change and recipet would drop back down into a basket.  Great way to keep from getting robbed.

[Towntalk]

Jay: Some of the older Pneumatic tubes were works of art in themselves. Where I worked, the brass work really gleemed when it was polished.

[jay]

Westsider and Towntalk,

You are correct.  These devices are in the first floor auditorium of the Ohio One Building.  There are five of these along the south wall.  This room is beautiful. 

Art Youngstown is currently using this first floor Great Room for its art show.  If anyone would like to see the room, come to the independent film night tonight, Friday, March 21, at 7:00 P.M.    A $3.00 donation is requested.   Works of local filmnakers will be shown.

[Towntalk]

Boy, something out of the past that I remenber well. We used those tubes where I worked. You'd be amazed at just how fast the containers went throug. We sued them to send copy from one department to another. In departmrnt stores they were used to send money from the counters up to the casheers. They were called Pneumatic tube, and the banks still use them at their drive through stations as well as Drug Stores that have double lane drive thru.

[northside lurker]

I don't know what that's called, but wasn't it a vacuum operated interoffice communication system?

Judging by the woodwork, I'm guessing this is in the Ohio One building.  Also, so much of that building's original character is intact.

[jay]

This device is in one of our downtown buildings.

What is the device?
Name its location.