Thanks for the memory, I had forgotten about these gadgets but remember them plainly now ! This summer I was buying a watermelon and asked the young man is we could “plug” it. He had no idea so I said bring me a knife and he let me demonstrate. I only asked because I needed a good melon and wouldn’t have time to return it if it was underripe. He was amazed when I told him it was common practice in grocery stores years ago.

This is such an amazing tool!

I used pneumatic tubes when I was in retail from 78-81. we sent order to our warehouse upstairs with them.. I remember a few pranks we pulled with them.

leonf, it would be fun to hear some of the pranks you pulled.

I too remember both. I was always concerned that some lady would get hit in the head by one of the tubes. Hey, those tubes must have been the idea behind the tubes at bank windows.

Sending insects up was a regular one. Trash too, of course. A few grapes made the trip. The best one happened when we got hold of some dry ice. We found out that if you put a chip of it in an old plastic film can that it would develop pressure inside and blow the lid off. ( Don't try this at home, you'll shoot your eye out) So, of course, we loaded one, waited a bit to build up pressure and sent it up the tube. 30 seconds later we hear a pop and a lot of cursing. And when they looked to see how we had sent an explosive up, they found an empty can with no residue. HEHE.

You guys were evil. Sure wish I'd been there to see the dry ice trick.

Thanks for sharing.

Certainly brings back memories! I wish they still used them; I think they were more accurate than the current method.

Your Mother was right, fabric used to be called yard goods. Maybe because women bought for clothing and always bought no less than a yard? Not sure about that. All the pre cuts are fairly newish to me.