The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pneumatic \Pneu*mat"ic\, Pneumatical \Pneu*mat"ic*al\, a. [L. pneumaticus, Gr. ?, fr. ?, ?, wind, air, ? to blow, breathe; cf. OHG. fnehan: cf. F. pneumatique. Cf. Pneumonia.]
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Consisting of, or resembling, air; having the properties of an elastic fluid; gaseous; opposed to dense or solid.
The pneumatical substance being, in some bodies, the native spirit of the body.
--Bacon. Of or pertaining to air, or to elastic fluids or their properties; pertaining to pneumatics; as, pneumatic experiments. ``Pneumatical discoveries.''
--Stewart.Moved or worked by pressure or flow of air; as, a pneumatic instrument; a pneumatic engine.
(Biol.) Fitted to contain air; Having cavities filled with air; as, pneumatic cells; pneumatic bones.
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Adapted for containing compressed air; inflated with air; as, a pneumatic cushion; a pneumatic tire, a tire formed of an annular tube of flexible fabric, as India rubber, suitable for being inflated with air.
Pneumatic action, or Pneumatic lever (Mus.), a contrivance for overcoming the resistance of the keys and other movable parts in an organ, by causing compressed air from the wind chest to move them.
Pneumatic dispatch, a system of tubes, leading to various points, through which letters, packages, etc., are sent, by the flow and pressure of air.
Pneumatic elevator, a hoisting machine worked by compressed air.
Pneumatic pile, a tubular pile or cylinder of large diameter sunk by atmospheric pressure.
Pneumatic pump, an air-exhausting or forcing pump.
Pneumatic railway. See Atmospheric railway, under Atmospheric.
Pneumatic syringe, a stout tube closed at one end, and provided with a piston, for showing that the heat produced by compressing a gas will ignite substances.
Pneumatic trough, a trough, generally made of wood or sheet metal, having a perforated shelf, and used, when filled with water or mercury, for collecting gases in chemical operations.
Pneumatic tube. See Pneumatic dispatch, above.
Wikipedia
Pneumatic tubes (or capsule pipelines; also known as Pneumatic Tube Transport or PTT) are systems that propel cylindrical containers through networks of tubes by compressed air or by partial vacuum. They are used for transporting solid objects, as opposed to conventional pipelines, which transport fluids. Pneumatic tube networks gained acceptance in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for offices that needed to transport small, urgent packages (such as mail, paperwork, or money) over relatively short distances (within a building, or, at most within a city). Some installations grew to great complexity, but were mostly superseded. In some settings, such as hospitals, they remain widespread and have been further extended and developed in recent decades.
A small number of pneumatic transportation systems were also built for larger cargo, to compete with more standard train and subway systems. However, these never gained popularity.
Usage examples of "pneumatic tube".
The newspapers, the telegraph lines and pneumatic tube-ways, the palaces and barracks and bureaux!
About five years after this, in 1973, Winston was unrolling a wad of documents which had just flopped out of the pneumatic tube on to his desk when he came on a fragment of paper which had evidently been slipped in among the others and then forgotten.
He arose and received his morning meal, slotted into the cell by pneumatic tube.
Just as the town seemed to be shipping small parcels, messages, and the like through a miniature steam-pressure-powered pneumatic tube system, there was another, similar system that was even more impressive because it was designed for people.
At noon, Oliphant presented his card to the concierge, who conveyed it via pneumatic tube to Monsieur Arslau's establishment.
Millions, cushioned mummylike in CeramWrap, get shunted all over the city each day by truck, courier, or pneumatic tube.
The dinner arrived in a small food chest, propelled to their midst at the end of a long, telescoping, pneumatic tube.
He headed for the toilet signs, and there took a pneumatic tube to the Netherzone Quadrant.