Pneumatic Tubes Were Department Store Wonder

Those of us of a certain age remember shopping in department stores when money handed to a cashier was not handled at a cash register on site. Instead, it was put in a little container, which in turn was put in a pneumatic tube that went whisking away to some unknown part of the store. After a while, back through another tube came the little container again, bringing you your receipt and change, if there was any due.

We finally saw where that money disappeared to. On the fourth floor of an antique mall, Historica Plus, located in what was once a department store in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, the entire Credit Office remains as it once was. The pneumatic system was actually used here until 1980.

A multitude of tubes lead to a level counter where women once sat, removing the payments, writing out the receipts and making change for the customers located on the three floors below. Although encircled by tubes coming and going, the women had a light and airy space to work, in a room lined with floor to ceiling windows.

According to a sales brochure in 1945, the Lamson Carrier and Pneumatic Tube System originated in 1889. William S. Lamson invented the system to speed the flow of cash in his small notion store in Lowell, Massachusetts. He sawed croquet balls in two, hollowed them out, and rolled them in inclined wooden troughs from the sales counter to the cashier’s desk.

By the early decades of the 20th century, Lamson’s idea had expanded to the Lamson Consolidated Store Service Co., advertising itself as a manufacturer of pneumatic tube apparatus of every description, with offices in about 20 of the major cities of the country. Advertising brochures stated that the “use of the Pneumatic Tube as a medium for conveying Cash, Messages, Parcels, Orders, Etc. has become so general in our large retail stores that we feel no introduction to that class of service is necessary... we have brought ourselves into a position where we can successfully adapt our service to any class of business.”

Some of the large retail stores used 250 or more stations, each working independently. Smaller stores, such as the one in Clearfield, might use only 12-15. Early pictures indicate that some stores used as few as two stations. Whatever the number, the process was the same: the money was put in a carrier, placed in the tube, carried away by the pneumatic system and from the tube dropped into a trough, where it was processed and returned through a separate tube. Altogether, the process was not unlike a bank’s drive-through money tube, although the banks use the same tube for sending and return.

The entire Lamson system would be powered by a motor in the basement, which was able to produce a partial vacuum in a larger tube which led up to wherever the cash office was located. The big tube also had a plate at the bottom which could be removed to retrieve any loose papers that might have fallen out of the carrier.

One of my earliest memories is shopping with my mother at the large Brandeis department store in Omaha, Nebraska, and watching that money get put in a tube and whooshed away to some place out of sight. We would wait with our cashier until the carrier reappeared with our receipt and change. Now, after all these years, I’ve finally had a chance to see what happened to mom’s money at the other end.

Donna Miller

P.S. I surely don’t need to tell any collector this, but if you happen to be checking out this bit of manufacturing history in Clearfield, you’ll enjoy all four floors of Historica Plus, which is an antique mall. I tried for some additional pictures but had left our good digital camera at home and had to use one of those $7.99 throw-away ones. Hopefully, these are clear enough to give you the general idea.

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Ink Pens Made Of Glass Impractical Writing Tool

Glass dip pens may be confusing to a person when one is seen for the first time. The immediate question that comes to mind is how does one fill them with ink.

Actually, they are not filled with ink at all. They are merely dipped in ink, just as the old metal nib pens or the even older goose quill pens were. Four or more ridges at the tip attract and hold enough ink to write a few words; then the pen must be dipped again.

They were never very practical. They alternately dropped globs of ink and ran dry, and when they were writing, the line width tended to be very irregular. Probably most were used for display purposes only, and as such, they work well today in conjunction with old inkwells.

The pens were made at least as early as the 1880s, when the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company made some. Old catalogs indicate that some were still being made at least as late as the 1930s.

The length varies between about five and seven inches, and they come in just about every color in which glass has been made, from white milk glass to black amethyst. Many of the lighter colored ones have internal pin stripes, also.

The pen point is often a different color than the body of the pen. The opposite end is usually embellished in some way. Some will be as simple as a flat cap in a contrasting color. More elaborate ones may even have a glass animal fused to the end.

Occasionally, glass pens were used as advertising vehicles, a forerunner of today’s giveaway ballpoint pen. This type had a hollow glass body, in which the advertising message could be contained.

Not surprisingly, many of the glass pens one is apt to find will have chipped or broken writing tips, as this part of the pen is most vulnerable to damage.
 

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Roycroft Community Successful In Manufacture Of Copper Items

Roycroft art metal was just one of the many products originating in the Roycroft Community at the beginning of the 20th century.

The community was founded by Elbert Hubbard, a champion of the Arts and Crafts movement, which stressed the beauty in hand-made items. At its peak of production, in 1910, the Roycroft Com­ munity employed more than 500 workers making books, furniture, leather goods, art metal and a variety of other items.

The Roycroft Copper Shop began making items for sale in 1906. The first efforts were not satisfactory, however. This problem was corrected by putting a talented person named Karl Kipp in charge.

Kipp had tried a banking career, but abandoned it at the age of 27. He arrived at Roycroft to work in the bookbindery, but in 1908, Hubbard shifted him to the copper shop. Although he had no previous experience in metal work, he quickly exhibited a natural talent for both designing and working with the metal. In a very short time, the Roycroft Copper Shop was running smoothly and sales of art metal pieces via mail order catalogs was booming.

Kipp left Roycroft to form his own company in 1911, but in 1915 returned. Elbert Hubbard had gone down with the Lusitania when it was torpedoed by the Germans and his son, Elbert Hubbard, Jr., convinced Kipp to return. The Community continued to thrive until the Depression. It finally closed its doors in 1938.

Most pieces of Roycroft copper are marked with a cross above a circle with an R in it. (Look-alike pieces with an impressed KK in a circle were made by Kipp’s own company.) A few pieces were unsigned; these were either items that the craftsmen made for their personal use or were made by apprentices and not considered good enough to mark.

Three basic methods of construction were used. Hand-hammered pieces were made of heavy gauge copper. These are considered the most desirable by collectors, especially the pieces made prior to 1915.

A thinner gauge copper was used during the 1920s to help reduce costs and the pieces made were smooth-formed, using a spinning process. There was little or no hand-workmanship.

Acid etching was also used during the 1920s and 1930s. Pieces made by the copper-spinning method were dipped in an acid solution to give them a textured surface.

The type of finish and its condition are of prime importance in valuing a piece today. Among the finishes were Aurora Brown, Old Brass and Modern Sheffield. The best piece from the collector’s point of view is one with its original patina in mint condition. A heavily worn or restored patina is much less desirable and will lower the value.

Roycroft copper items most easily found are ashtrays, letter openers and simple bookends. harder to find are bowls and vases. All the larger pieces, such as lamps, are very hard to find.

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