Hospitals are not the only users of pneumatic delivery systems.
When data is managed on paper rather than disks and drives, tube systems can be the easiest way to move it.
The Library of Congress had a pneumatic system that ran to the basement of the Capitol Building, according to the Architect of the Capitol’s office.
The system was first used in 1964.
Nobody remembers how long it was in service, but it was dismantled when construction began on the new visitors’ center on the east side of the Capitol.
The Government Printing Office still uses pneumatic tubes to move some of the copy it processes in its mammoth facility.
GPO publishes a huge volume of material each day, including the Federal Register and Congressional Record, and although people are accessing more of its products online, computers have not completely replaced paper.
“We’re a print shop,” Schwank said. “Everything we get is printed.
And once you print it, you have to go back and compare it to the original copy.” That means print proofs and original material have to be transported to a reading room.
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