Receipts
Sources.
New York numbers are Smithsonian / National Postal Museum unless labelled otherwise. Vienna’s backbone is Austria Post’s 2025 stamp text plus Wien Geschichte Wiki. Paris, Prague, and Berlin figures are attributed to the specific article that states them. Image licences live in images/CREDITS.md.
National Postal Museum / Smithsonian
- Underground Flying Mail — Allen Kane, NPM1897 origin, $148,500 rent, 30% in 1914, 600 letters / ~35 mph, 1953 suspension
- Pneumatic Tube Mail — NPM exhibitionPhiladelphia 1893; six cities; >56 miles by 1915; 600 letters; average 35 mph; wagon 40 min / tube 7 min
- Pneumatic Tube Canister — NPM object spotlight27 miles NYC; Brooklyn costs; April 1950 bridge cutoff; 600 letters
- SI object npm_0.269514.1CC0 canister; 24½ × 8¼ in; 21 Manhattan offices by 1898; Lamson gift
- Smithsonian Snapshot, 12 Oct 2011500 letters / 35 mph / 6 million pieces daily / five carriers a minute
- Unusual Delivery Methods — NPM500 letters / 30 mph; Boston 1950; New York 1953
- Intra-City Mail — NPM31 December 1953 as the New York end date
- NPM canister video page600 letters / about 35 mph
- Smithsonian Magazine, Vanessa Armstrong, 22 Dec 20237 Oct 1897 test; 27 miles; 31 Dec 1953 quote; conflicting canister description
Vienna, Paris, Prague, Berlin
- Austria Post — 150-year stamp pageOfficial 1875–1956 sketch; 53 stations; >80 km; stamp specs
- Austria Post — first-day essay~50 km/h; 15 capsules; 15 Feb / 1 Mar 1875
- Wien Geschichte Wiki — RohrpostFelbinger/Crespin; 14,011 m opening; 88.5 km; 2 April 1956
- German Wikipedia — Rohrpost in Wien82.5 km; 5,500/day in 1950
- Wikipedia — Paris pneumatic post1866–1984; 427 km / 130 offices (1934); 30 million (1945)
- Wikipedia — Prague pneumatic post~55 km; 4 Mar 1889; 2002 floods; last preserved municipal system
- Wikipedia — Pneumatic tubeCity list; 467 km Paris variant; hospital PTS; 7.5 m/s modern summary
- Wikipedia — Rohrpost in BerlinCity dates; read with WELT 2024 and the Retrotechnology 254 vs 400 km note
Archives, press, technical pages
- NYPL — New York Mail and Newspaper Transportation Company recordsContractor history; 1953 cancellation
- Library of Congress — N.Y. Post Office Pneumatic TubeBain News Service, ggbain.17144
- Library of Congress — Helen Ringwald, June 1943Esther Bubley, FSA/OWI (fsa.8d30861)
- WELT — Berlin Rohrpost, 1 Dec 2024Public opening 1 Dec 1876; East 1976
- Museum of Retrotechnology — Pneumatic Networks254 vs 400 km Berlin note; Marseille 1964
- Stanford Medicine — hospital PTS, 11 Jan 2010Modern clinical transport; cited by Wikipedia for ~7.5 m/s
- Urban pneumatic postal networks: speeds, mileages, and station counts from named museum and postal sources.
- New York figures from Smithsonian / National Postal Museum captions, which sometimes disagree on letter count and speed.
- Hospital and warehouse systems as a separate living industry — see hospital remnant.
Images: CREDITS.md. Commons category starting points: Paris pneumatic post, Rohrpost in Berlin, London Pneumatic Despatch Company, Prague pneumatic post.