Pneumatic Tube Communication In Hospitals 350
blee37 sends along a writeup from the School of Medicine at Stanford University on their pneumatic tube delivery system, used for sending atoms not bits. Such systems are in use in hospitals nationwide; the 19th-century technology is enhancd by recent refinements in pneumatic braking. "Every day, 7,000 times a day, Stanford Hospital staff turn to pneumatic tubes, cutting-edge technology in the 19th century, for a transport network that the Internet and all the latest Silicon Valley wizardry can't match: A tubular system to transport a lab sample across the medical center in the blink of an eye."
Biggest problem with pneumatic tube communication (Score:5, Funny)
The bandwidth sucks.
Shaken not stirred (Score:4, Funny)
James-Bond those urine samples.
This must have had the endorsement of.... (Score:5, Funny)
... Sen. Ted Stevens.
Re:Biggest problem with pneumatic tube communicati (Score:5, Funny)
There has never been a more appropriate time for this response: WHOOSH! (as the parcel goes by in the tube)
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, I wanna go and put my junk in those!
Re:"The tube is everywhere" (Score:2, Funny)
I for one welcome our new tubular overlords.
...and I am right behind you with Tubular Bells on.
Re:Rollofle, you can't download a pizza either (Score:5, Funny)
Pizza hut is now suing customers that use the pizzamaker 3000 to download unauthorized copies of their pizzas through PneumaticPizzatorrents. papa johns and domino's are considering following suite. It is being shown that only 3% of all pizzas downloaded are legal public domain or open source pizzas.
Re:dont want to start here (Score:3, Funny)
No. The internet is a series of tubes, and this pneumatic tube communication system is like a convoy of trucks on the highway.
And yes, the convoy of trucks is now connected via Wi-Fi, so these trucks are like the internet.
also functions as as hort range time machine (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Ding Ding (Score:1, Funny)
The one who likes tubular bells?
Re:Big supermarkets have them here. (Score:4, Funny)
You stop letting them spend all day in the basement.
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:5, Funny)
So what you're saying is that mail in NYC is a truck you put things on, not a series of tubes?
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:2, Funny)
I wasn't aware that Freud wore a slip. That really clarifies a lot of other questions I had about him. God, I'm glad other bits never made it into the mainstream. Just imagine the Freudian corset, stockings, etc. I guess he took his Oedipus Complex a step beyond, eh?
That's one mighty nice Freudian Chastity Belt(tm) you have there.
I'm going to have nightmares for weeks. ick.
Re:I guess the only question is... (Score:5, Funny)
actually some pneumatic tube systems have procedures for a stuck cylinder, by sending a second heavier cylinder, or by increasing the pressure to higher than normal levels, either way clearing the tube.
as in Futurama: Governor lady said "I'm sending in more trains!"
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:5, Funny)
Heck, the first New York City subway was pneumatic. (It was also very short, and short-lived.)
Could that be because it sucked?
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:3, Funny)
It was initially supposed to handle grocery delivery as well, but... routing problems.
Would be interesting for home plumbing (Score:3, Funny)
I've occasionally thought it would be interesting to use this kind of technology for home plumbing. For example, when you turn on your sink and ask for hot water, instead of having a continuous flow in a pipe from the hot water heater to the sink (which wastes a lot of energy), why not use a pneumatic tube system to deliver a packet of hot water to the sink?
Note that the same tubes could be used for delivering hot water an cold water, and taking away waste water? (You'd have separate containers, of course, for fresh water and waste water).
You could do cool things with a pneumatic packet-switched water network. For instance, it would be easy to add a storage tank and route shower waster water to the tank, and then from there to the toilets for flushing.
And I bet with some clever design, you could make it so the pneumatic tube system could double as a centralized vacuum system for house cleaning.
Re:Would be interesting for home plumbing (Score:5, Funny)
Are you fucking high?
>Note that the same tubes could be used for delivering hot water an cold water, and taking away waste water? (You'd have separate containers, of course, for fresh water and waste water).
Are you fucking high?
>You could do cool things with a pneumatic packet-switched water network. For instance, it would be easy to add a storage tank and route shower waster water to the tank, and then from there to the toilets for flushing.
Are you fucking high?
>And I bet with some clever design, you could make it so the pneumatic tube system could double as a centralized vacuum system for house cleaning.
Seriously, are you fucking high?
Re:Ding Ding (Score:5, Funny)
To help alert employees to the arrival of containers, the system has more than three dozen different combinations of chiming tones.
bing bing bong bong
bing bing bong bong
"Well, Theresa, aren't you going to get that?"
"Hell no! That's Marty from accounting! He's been trying to contact me ever since he thought I was coming on to him at the Christmas party. As if!"
"No, that's not Marty. Marty is bing bing bing bong and not bing bing bong bong. That's Bill in IT."
"Are you sure? I thought Bill's was bing bong bong bing."
"Nope. You might be confusing that with Jerry which is bong bing bong bingybong."
"Okay, but only if you're sure."
Re:Biggest problem with pneumatic tube communicati (Score:2, Funny)
Re: Fastest Sytem of All (Score:2, Funny)
Firing them from a cannon would be faster.
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Anonymous Coward (Score:3, Funny)
sector 7g?
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Used in other places, too (Score:3, Funny)
Of course there is. Java's GC sucks too.
Re:Common in the UK, good way to loose an ear (Score:3, Funny)
The worst thing is, most people just ask what happened to the dog.
I'm surprised it fit in the tube.
Networking 101: fragmentation [wikipedia.org]