6 ms·
One thing I tripped over here is just what is a phototube in this context? https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016_08_09_at_
by jbpetersen 10y ago
One thing I tripped over here is just what is a phototube in this context? https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2016/08/Screen_Shot_2016_08_09_at_1.41.29_PM/1500b1c9e.png https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2016/08/S... "Phototubes protrude from an abandoned building at the Conant Thread-Coats & Clark Mill Complex, in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)"
My own knowledge, Google, and Wikipedia have all failed me here. My best guess is it's old slang for pneumatic transport tubes, but I can't say I've ever seen anything quite like what's shown in the picture.
- R_haterade 10y agoVacuum transport tubes. I seem to remember them being called photo tubes at the bank branch we went to when I was a child. That was a small part of a childhood I'm still recalling odd fragments of here and there. Thanks for prompting the recall.
- gozur88 10y agoThose things are still in use, believe it or not. There's a big box retailer where my parents live that has a tube to every register. When the registers have too much money the checker puts the excess into a cylinder that whooshes to the central office.
- R_haterade 10y agoI think they were in use in hospitals for a while as well for sending notes around, pre-email.
- nickzoic 10y agoAlso pathology samples, although I believe there's now some interest in robots doing similar things.