Vintage money-transfer systems.

[G6Tanuki]

Hearing a 'sucking air' noise in the local Tesco I noticed that they have a 'pneumatic post' system from some of the checkouts, going presumably to the back-office.

I remember these were commonplace in large shops/department-stores in the 60s - back then they didn't have individual cash-registers, the payment and receipt got sent 'up the tube' to a central cashier, change and the receipt [rubber-stamped 'paid'] came back the same way.

There was also a 'wire' system where the sales person put the money/receipt into a metal capsule which then attached - using a 'twist' action - to a little carriage, which was flung along an overhead wire by a pull of a handle.

From memory, 'Lamson Paragon' was a manufacturer of these systems.

The other thing I remembered recently was the 'carbonless' receipt-machines: a thing about the size of a modern iPad [though a lot thicker and heavier] with a window on the front through which you could write out the receipt on pre-printed forms. You then turned a knob on the side and the top [white] copy of the receipt emerged for you to tear off and give to the customer, the bottom (yellow) copy stayed within the machine. The idea of 'carbonless' copying for these always intrigued me!

[Lucien Nunes]

Lamson also made central vacuum cleaner plant, which is not altogether unlike pneumatic delivery plant (but be careful not to make cross-connections between the two systems!)

I would like to get hold of a set of original components to demonstrate one or both applications, however with the installations confined mainly to high value retail premises that have been refitted many times since the early systems were operational, and the special pipework with long radius bends etc being embedded in the building fabric, it looks like a bit of a challenge.

[G6Tanuki]

I wasn't aware of the Lamson central vacuum-cleaning connection.

Yes they did seem to be a thing in the more-upmarket shops/department-stores: the ones I remember were a vacuum-system in the bespoke-suits-and-taioring section of Horne Brothers, Wolverhampton, and a wire-based system in McClures department-store, Shrewsbury.

Both were the sort of shops where the staff were the sort of people who no doubt inspired the "Captain Peacock" character in Are You Being Served!

[Station X]

There's a wire based system in one of the shops at Beamish open air museum. It's started by raisiing a section of "track" to create an inclined plane. The containers are spheres a bit like those excersie balls you put hamsters in, but smaller and non-transparent.

[Radio Wrangler]

You always knew that if you were in a shop with a vacuum tube system, especially in well-polished brass, it was going to be expensive!

When I spotted the one in Tesco at Hemitage Gait last year, I was quite surprised they were still used and in quite new buildings. No shiny brass though.

David

[SiriusHardware]

As a young kid in the mid-late sixties, I used to get dragged around Newcastle on shopping trips by my Gran, who had the unfortunate job of minding me a lot of the time because both of my parents worked. One of her favourite stores was 'Farnons' which had what I now know to be a vaccuum-based cash transfer system. I used to be endlessly fascinated by what these pipes were for and where they must go to and spent many an hour trying to follow then as we trailed from one department to the next.

[Dave Moll]

I certainly remember the overhead wire system from my childhood. I seem to recall it being in the Headington (Oxford) Co-operative store, though many of my childhood memories have proved to be inaccurate. I think they relied on spring launchers rather than inclined planes.

[ex seismic]

The last one I recall was in Hong Kong in the very later 70s in the shop where I bought my HP41CV, which I still have although the various accessories don't get used nowadays.

[Cobaltblue]

Sainsburys still use them SWMBO works in the Cash office they call it the "Flight system" it even goes from the Garage across to the office in the main building underground.

When the Cash office got moved to a completely different part of the building the Flight system got moved as well. That store was built in 1993, refurbished 2018 when the office was moved to make it easier for click and collect and run the home delivery fleet.

Normally the store is too noisy to hear the system working.

Cheers

Mike T

Slightly OT, the first cash machines in the UK used a pre printed cheque, you popped it in and money popped out, there was a PIN too. As an addition level of security the cheques where mildly radioactive.

[duncanlowe]

I think our local Wilko has the vacuum system, all plastic containers these days. I remember the brass ones from my younger days but no idea where from.

Regarding the receipt machines. I remember them as well, where there was a hole in the top of the machine where you would use the pen you has just written with to start the receipt coming out of the top, and then you would grip the part that stuck out and pull the rest manually. Always struck me how many ball pen marks there were around said hole on those machines.

[McMurdo]

Our local tesco big supermarket was built around 1990 or therabouts and has the lamson style tubes, they're not on every till but I think the cigarette counter/customer service has a row of them. The till operator puts the money in a capsule and they are collected by someone with a trolley who takes them to a central point.

re the carbonless 'autographic' sales registers, you can still buy them! Made by Rexel.

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

There was a Lamson tube system at the hospital where I worked. It was used to move samples from wards and other areas to the path lab. Normall it worked ok until a person or persons unknown put a sample In the pipeline without first putting it in the correct container. The sample was then spilt throughout the system requiring a shut down and clean. The diverters used to jam andhadto be freed off. These diverters were always in the most inaccessible areas usually above ceilings or in lift shafts.
I was glad when the task of maintenance was moved to a different department.

Malcolm

[samjmann]

Wow this post took me back.. Whilst on holiday with my dad in the early sixties, we used to go to a hardware/farmers shop in Lurgan N.I. They had the cable system of a small cash pot attached to a track that was pulled very fast up to a cash office on a mezzanine floor above the shop floor. The customers change and receipt then were sent back to the same assistant. It was fascinating to look at. It did mean that all the money was off the shop floor and secure.

I reckon this was around 1966, I do know the shop had gone by the 70's.

SJM.

[electronicskip]

The big four still use the tube systems in their larger shops, although the first time I ever saw one used was in BHS in the late 60's, also when you paid, the change was deposited in a sort of slide chute at the bottom of the checkout belt for you to collect.

[G6Tanuki]

Originally Posted by electronicskip

also when you paid, the change was deposited in a sort of slide chute at the bottom of the checkout belt for you to collect.

Woolworths used to have those: the coins were in vertical stacks under a clear plastic cover, visible both to the customer and the checkout-operator; the change rolled down a curved slot into a little bowl for you to collect.

I remember they were actually quite smart - if there were no 5p-pieces in the machine it would *automagically* send down two 2p and one 1p. I guess the checkout-till just sent a message to the change-machine saying "25p" and the change-machine worked it out for itself, knowing if any of the coin-hoppers were empty.

[emeritus]

You can find details of the various sytems on the website cashrailway.co.uk

http://www.cashrailway.co.uk/

In the 1960's there were two examples of wire systems at a local shopping centre: a large one in a department store, and a small one with only two stations in a jewellers.

[TowerRadio]

Halifax introduced a vac tube system from a teller position to a high cash office in a more secure location sometime during the 90's. It didnt last very long before the tellers were all put behind more secure counters with rising bandit screens.Les

[MotorBikeLes]

My late friend Don worked for many years post war for "Dart Cash carriers" in Stoke on Trent. They made vacuum systems, and the "cash carriers" part of their name tells you the rest. I remember plenty of these around the potteries area as a kid. There was also a small (local?) grocery chain called "Maypole", and i recall they had the sort where a wire was pulled, sending a pulse up the wire with the cash container before it. The cashier was "up in the air" relative, and I think the device was returned by gravity.
In the late '60s, I worked on the Shelly China site, and the "clay shops" there had a comprehensive vacuum system, with vacuum "sockets" dotted everywhere. That system was also from dart Cash. One memorable thing about it was the main machine. About 18" in diameter, and similar length, its motor was belt driven and had a multi stage start (maybe 20 "notches") and it took seconds between each notch. If the operator moved it too quickly, a big bang and blown fuses brought forth the wrath of the electrician when called to sort it out again.
Les.

[Refugee]

Those modern tubes are something like UPVC.
All the check-outs have them in our local Tesco superstore. If the cash float goes over a certain amount it comes up on the checkout operators screen and orders some cash to be sent up to where all those collars and ties came from the day I got a lights out deal from the non food reduced to clear shelf. There was a power cut lasting a couple of seconds just as the checkout op beeped the item I was to buy. They had to reboot everything before I could pay for my bargain item.