Why don't we use vacuum tube technology more in the UK?

[-]

EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

Nothing like listening to Hendrix through a 60's valve amp on acid man.

Reply

[-]

A_Right_Eejit@reddit

Someone wants their weed delivered by vacuum lol

Reply

[-]

UncleSnowstorm@reddit

5th floor and hoping I don't have to walk down to get the post.

Reply

[-]

I know for a fact (because I worked there) that there is a major tech company in the UK that uses a massive vacuum tube system to deliver parts across the facility. Not going to even partly dox myself by naming it though.

Reply

[-]

DaveArtS@reddit

Penis enlargers?

Reply

[-]

SuspiciouslyMoist@reddit

Obligatory Tom Scott videos: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMTZvA8iFgI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMTZvA8iFgI) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTHZLKFblKo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTHZLKFblKo)

Reply

[-]

conrat4567@reddit

I used to work at Tesco. We had a tube that connected to the office. One day, about 1k in cash got stuck in the tube. It probably cost more to get it out and repair it

Reply

[-]

jimthewanderer@reddit

Hospitals use them for certain things. As a technology they've been superceded by widespread access to better computer networking, for communication and data transfer purposes. They do make sense for sending actual physical things though, like samples being whizzed off to pathology labs. There used to be big ones for postal purposes that were large enough for a person to get inside.

Reply

[-]

Exact-Character313@reddit

Because if they had that in apartments you'd have kids posting turds to be sucked up to your gaff as soon as they found out about it. I'm nearly 50 and I'd find it hard to resist doing it as well

Reply

[-]

AnythingSilent7005@reddit

Ive been to a house in the middle east owned by en engineer that had one of these vacuum systems jerry rigged to a central sheesha/hookah pipe in the basement that his driver would service with coal. In each room he just had a nozzle in the wall that a sheesha pipe would fit in so he could smoke sheesha in every room of the house 🤣

Reply

[-]

aesemon@reddit

They had one at a place i worked with 4 floors, the workshop was on the top floor and every week one tube would get stuck at the top of the system and we would be asked to sort it out.

Reply

[-]

Slonshal@reddit

Because they totally suck.

Reply

[-]

Leader_Bee@reddit

I know you're on about those plastic tubes that zip post around all over the place, they've generally gone out of fashion because of Email, they were generally installed inside of buildings, not all over a city, it's too brittle a system to work. There's also Vacuum Tubes used in electronics; they've gone out of fashion since transistors and micronisation have become possible. Computers today would be absolutely colossal if we still used vacuum tubes.

Reply

[-]

mellonians@reddit

We still use vacuum tubes for high power RF. Most of the country (by population) listen to the radio or watch TV delivered through a valve or IOT.

Reply

[-]

MEaster@reddit

Microwaves, too. The magnetron used to generate the microwaves is a kind of vacuum tube.

Reply

[-]

EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

Radios with valves? Surely that died out.

Reply

[-]

mellonians@reddit

Some high power FM still uses valves though there is a long term replacement programme. They're as big as your head and a pleasure to tune up. I can't say stations or specifics as it's not my place. Some high power digital TV uses Inductive Output Tube like Crystal Palace and Sutton Coldfield. You can see them here from 2 mins in https://youtu.be/bmLBuuluNuI?si=l2FxzAgdiThyYCIW

Reply

[-]

skelly890@reddit

I believe the Droitwich long wave (R4) transmitter uses them. It closes next year.

Reply

[-]

Great-Elevator3808@reddit

The radios went solid state, .but the (analogue) transmitters still use Klystron tubes or TWTs for high power RF. Digital modes are increasingly solid state too now though due to the lower powers required.

Reply

[-]

mellonians@reddit

Some digital TV transmitters still use IOT

Reply

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

Vacuum tubes are still used in various applications, most common is hi fidelity amplifiers but also. Particle accelerators (including X-Ray generators) also use vacuum tubes (but not exactly the same kind as above).

Reply

[-]

EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

There was a Soviet radar system that could shoot down American stealth stuff because it ran off valves and had ribs of power.

Reply

[-]

skelly890@reddit

The Mig 25 used vacuum tubes. EMP-resistant.

Reply

[-]

EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

Yeah I realised that, but when I first read it I thought of amps

Reply

[-]

Prestigious-Speed-29@reddit

They're probably more popular in guitar amps than HiFi by now. Valves (tubes) are considered esoteric in the HiFi world, but I'd estimate that over half of the guitar amps that come across my stage still use valve technology in some form.

Reply

[-]

CoffeeandaTwix@reddit

True. I actually play guitar myself and have previously had valve amps but only a solid state practice amp now.

Reply

[-]

steeplebush@reddit

Guitarists have entered the chat

Reply

[-]

Special-Audience-426@reddit

They claim to be able to hear the difference compared to digital then always fail miserably when some YouTuber tests them.

Reply

[-]

smiley6125@reddit

Strongly disagree with that one. Rob Chapman seems to always get it right and I think he is a dick. I prefer a valve amp, however the modelling amps are a no brainer if you were buying a new amp.

Reply

[-]

TobsterVictorSierra@reddit

Ear drums don't clip harmonically, they clip painfully.

Reply

[-]

ambadawn@reddit

I don't think he did with the Kemper.

Reply

[-]

smiley6125@reddit

It doesn’t manage harmonics in the same way. However I would rather take a kemper or fractal axe fx 3 over storing a Marshall DSL, a 5150, Fender Twin reverb and whatever else heads. I do love a valve amp. Even the smell if a hot valve. If I was touring I would use a kemper rather than lug a big amp around. And at venue volumes I think the sound difference is drastically less by the time it has gone through the mix.

Reply

[-]

TobsterVictorSierra@reddit

You can absolutely hear the difference in clipping between one valve and one transistor. You can't hear the difference between one valve, and a bunch of solid state circuitry that's emulating the clipping harmonics of one valve.

Reply

[-]

FidelityBob@reddit

Vacuum tubes are only used in electronics in the USA. We have valves instead. Much better..

Reply

[-]

Fit_Swordfish5248@reddit

They used to be used at the tills in supermarkets to take money straight from the till to the office. I haven't seen them for 15 years or so but they was still in use when I worked at the tills in Morrisons in around 2008

Reply

[-]

Frap_Gadz@reddit

The "vacuum tubes" op is taking about are actually referred to as pneumatic tubes.

Reply

[-]

akl78@reddit

They also wouldn’t work; vacuum tubes are like incandescent lights; they burn out (and are expensive) It’s manageable with a few racks in a 1950s machine, but with millions to mimic a modern one the thing would burn constantly , probably before even on properly. Every time.

Reply

[-]

IllTransporter@reddit

This guy tubes!

Reply

[-]

pryonic1705@reddit

Berlin used to have a 400km system Rohrpost in Berlin - Wikipedia https://share.google/2cshRA2Be3So6BR1U

Reply

[-]

notouttolunch@reddit

Was the pun intentional?

Reply

[-]

nali_cow@reddit

[I see you're not a guitarist](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube)... (Yes I know this isn't what you meant)

Reply

[-]

ramakitty@reddit

They are also still used in microwave ovens.

Reply

[-]

TobsterVictorSierra@reddit

And custom kitchen deliver ie ie ie ie ies.

Reply

[-]

davus_maximus@reddit

...no they aren't. You're thinking of cavity magnetrons.

Reply

[-]

Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

There was an incident with a plump German kid in a chocolate factory that killed the technology

Reply

[-]

TobsterVictorSierra@reddit

It wasn't the plump German kid, it was the lack of a racially problematic "volunteer" workforce to sing moral lessons about abusing such a system.

Reply

[-]

TobsterVictorSierra@reddit

Because Jack Black and Kyle Gass never made it to leading as two kings.

Reply

[-]

mordhoshogh@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/jwzzu9bsr12g1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96e99cf99a09592c9f2a70eda63b4b3103a832d7

Reply

[-]

AvailableYam2484@reddit

TUBE CITY!!!

Reply

[-]

Turbulent_Ad_880@reddit

Upvoting for "tubes of suck"!

Reply

[-]

thejazzassassin@reddit

I always loved them but they're wildly impractical and notoriously unreliable. Recent places I've seen them - a coffee shop in London for whizzing beans about the place and a weed dispensary in Vancouver, to whisk your bud to the cashier.

Reply

[-]

FidelityBob@reddit

Tesco still use them.

Reply

[-]

slimdrum@reddit

I saw a video about a restaurant somewhere that uses them to deliver meals to your table, it looked so cool with the tubes all over the place

Reply

[-]

FloofyRaptor@reddit

The hospital I used to work in had one, once a tube arrived with a paper referral in with such enthusiasm it ricocheted off the floor and smacked the other receptionist on the back of the head. Her glasses flew off onto the desk and her dentures half came out in front of a packed patient waiting room. She was *not happy* and I got the brunt of it because I just happened to have a front row seat to her embarrassment, which, unfortunately for me, made it all the funnier. Other than a bit of a bruise she, her teeth and her glasses survived physically undamaged. I have no idea what she said to the department head but the next day estates came and fitted a catch basket underneath the tube machine.

Reply

[-]

Gingrpenguin@reddit

Pneumatic tubes aren't new technology. It's basically peak Victorian steam punk technology. The problem is they're finicky and inefficient. London did have a pneumatic network but that never was able to compete with royal mails posties and items are a lot harder to fit in the tubes. With modern tech it may be possible to fix a lot of the issues but I don't think a use case really exists for it in the digital world we live in. most places are simply maintaining what they've had for decades

Reply

[-]

timlnolan@reddit

You mean a 'pneumatic tube system'. A vacuum tube is something different, basically an old fashioned transistor

Reply

[-]

The_Blip@reddit

I was really hoping this was what they were asking about. Personally I'm more fond of Nixie tubes.

Reply

[-]

MaxMouseOCX@reddit

Those things are way more expensive than they really should be... And I kinda hate that they're not more wide spread, they look awesome.

Reply

[-]

keithmk@reddit

A pneumatic tube for delivering mail around the building became obsolete with email, their use for moving the money up to the cash office is also just about obsolete as well, people pay by card nowadays, except in a few very small shops and they are not the sort of places that would have those systems

Reply

[-]

non-hyphenated_@reddit

Wait until you learn about post that comes _electronically_..

Reply

[-]

squesh@reddit

the internet will never catch on, just a fad

Reply

[-]

MaxMouseOCX@reddit

I argued this unironically at one point, and then when I was proved wrong I argued that watching video online would never be possible as the data storage demand could NEVER be met, my first desktop PC had a 20mb hard drive 🤣. Now I'm an old, dejected coder... So at least I learned what I once thought was largely bullshit.

Reply

[-]

jonnyshields87@reddit

You’re wrong, one day it’s going to be massive.

Reply

[-]

lawnmower303@reddit

Yeah I've stopped using it

Reply

[-]

boomerangchampion@reddit

We could call it e-post

Reply

[-]

jonnyshields87@reddit

Or postE

Reply

[-]

Technical_Front_8046@reddit

I don’t know what the system is called but remember our Tescos having one. The cashier would stuff a load of notes in a pod and it would go off to the office for banking. Our local hospital has the same system but for getting bloods from the wards to the lab onsite.

Reply

[-]

Worried-Penalty8744@reddit

They use them in the year 3000 to get around so you just need to hang on for a little bit or get yourself frozen. I think in the current era Tesco may still use them for their money drops or if not then they did until recently. https://preview.redd.it/0nat0b2v432g1.jpeg?width=636&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ffdabb0f1c51210b0b7d55fe9d643b42bcef59fc

Reply

[-]

just_some_guy65@reddit

Everything is semiconductors now

Reply

[-]

Conscious-Rope7515@reddit

They used to have a system like this in Paris. If you wanted a letter sent quickly you could use the *pneumatique.* Disused now, of course.

Reply

[-]

rocki-i@reddit

We have them in hospitals to transport samples the the lab. And drugs to and from pharmacy sometimes.

Reply

[-]

Sarahspangles@reddit

Yes, they are in use at our local Trust‘s main building. A couple of times a year we’d get an email saying there was a problem, but that’s telling me they were generally reliable.

Reply

[-]

easytiger29121@reddit

Yeah, generally. I’ve been involved in designing a new hospital recently and we’re still including systems like this in the plans for transporting samples

Reply

[-]

Stuspawton@reddit

They still get used in a lot of larger supermarkets and wholesalers, but cash payments aren’t the primary method anymore and the maintenance on the vacuum tube systems isn’t cost effective

Reply

[-]

verminV@reddit

We used them in a wholesaler I worked in to send cash etc from the cash room to the checkouts. Atleast once a week a tube full of money would get stuck in the tube. Theu only stopped using them when the system had a fault and sent the tube to an old till that wasnt in use near the alcohol department, that a customer decided to pinch. That one tube (so I was told) had like 5k of notes in it.

Reply

[-]

BenFranklinsCat@reddit

I always thought it would be fun to have a restaurant with one of those old tube systems, just figure out how to fill a menu with things you could feasibly deliver in a plastic tube. Hot dogs and fries mostly, I guess?

Reply

[-]

MrMotorcycle94@reddit

Tesco in my town still uses them to send money from till to the back room when there's too much money in the till

Reply

[-]

Dedward5@reddit

When Augustus Gloop got stuck in that one at the Wonka factory there was a huge backlash and they fell out of favour.

Reply

[-]

72dk72@reddit

It's used in hospitals as well!

Reply

[-]

IanM50@reddit

Pneumatic tube systems work by having multiple departure points and one arrival destination, just before the motor creating the vaccum. A many to one system. Great for a multiple checkouts sending to the cash office or hospital departments sending to the pathology labs, and many to one can or of course be a one to one system. Not very useful for a mail delivery to multiple flats.

Reply

[-]

V65Pilot@reddit

My local wholesaler uses them to send money to the secure room from the cashiers.

Reply

[-]

DuglandJones@reddit

Are you the same guy that wanted to implement a new set of pipework purely for soup? Soup on tap

Reply

[-]

greggery@reddit

Costco still use them

Reply

[-]

Mental_Body_5496@reddit

They are still used in hospitals to send blood and stuff to the lab for testing - not sure a takeaway would survive ?

Reply

[-]

hhfugrr3@reddit

These used to be very common in supermarkets. Not seen one in years, couldn't tell you why. I'd guess more card transactions and less cash.

Reply

[-]

EdmundTheInsulter@reddit

I thought you meant electric valves, yeah you need them for that authentic 60's sound from your Marshall amp.

Reply

[-]

ENNLRon@reddit

Because we would put our cock in it.

Reply

[-]

PsychologicalTowel79@reddit

Given the prevalence of ladies inserting things into themselves online I'm surprised more men aren't putting themselves in things, or maybe they are? That sort of thing doesn't interest me.

Reply

[-]

DarkNinjaPenguin@reddit

They do, but it's a lot harder to get it stuck in there because there's an entire person on the other end to pull on.

Reply

[-]

starsky1357@reddit

[here you go](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTHZLKFblKo)

Reply

[-]

InsaneNutter@reddit

Email became a thing and everything is going cashless. I do think we will eventually get more things been delivered by drone though, so you could one day have your takeaway delivered somewhat differently.

Reply

[-]

Exact_Setting9562@reddit

Good luck getting your pizza in the tube.

Reply

[-]

ManTurnip@reddit

Calzones on the other hand...

Reply

[-]

Exact_Setting9562@reddit

I'm all in for a calzone delivery tube. I withdraw my previous objection.

Reply

[-]

geeered@reddit

Good luck getting your pizza *out of* the tube!

Reply

[-]

JBobSpig@reddit

Do you have any idea how they work? I'm guessing not. A lot of what you're suggesting just wouldn't work.

Reply

[-]

Joober81@reddit

We used to use the one at the cinema I worked at to send popcorn and hotdogs up to projection 😅

Reply

[-]

therealhairykrishna@reddit

They did build giant tube systems around cities. Famously they serviced all of Manhattan. They were really expensive, limited delivery volume and when something got stuck they had to dig up the street.

Reply

[-]

Milam1996@reddit

Hospitals use them all the time for sending blood samples and pathology samples to the lab.

Reply

[-]

Kayakmedic@reddit

In the NHS we're always at the peak of modern technology! Pneumatic tube systems, pagers, wires everywhere. At least the most places seem to have ditched their fax machines in the last few years.

Reply

[-]

newbracelet@reddit

Last year I needed to get a letter from a specialist who had treated me a while ago, and when I contacted the department they said the only way they could send it was by fax. The receptionist kept saying they couldn't mail the letter to me because they were 'paperless' but they couldn't email it because they didn't have the ability to send external emails. I ended up having to ask my drs surgery to receive the fax and then give me the letter which was about as painful as you'd expect asking a GP surgery to do something non-urgent would be.

Reply

[-]

OldGuto@reddit

I thought you were talking about the American term for thermionic valves, i.e. these things: https://preview.redd.it/6uerqfqa222g1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=737a23661142ad8fded385c05171594bce93af37

Reply

[-]

linkheroz@reddit

When did you last send a physical letter? When did you last fill out a physical form? When did you last pay in cash? Exactly.

Reply

[-]

DeapVally@reddit

I've used them a lot in hospitals over the years. They break down SO often! They're more hassle than they are worth, really. A porter, or simply taking urgent samples to the lab yourself is not much slower, and you don't have the risk of it getting stuck and spoiling, which they inevitably will if it was a particularly tricky set of bloods to take IME. The tube Gods know! They demand tribute, and they will take it when you least want them to.

Reply

[-]

whatanametochoose@reddit

Have you not seen the Paddington movie and what happens when food ends up in those tubes

Reply

[-]

NewStroma@reddit

We have one in the hospital where I work. It breaks down all the time, they need constant maintenance and the switching is complex.

Reply

[-]

PsychologicalTowel79@reddit

A robot sounds better than that.

Reply

[-]

Creepy-Brick-@reddit

They are still used in some shops. I used one just a few weeks ago. We aren’t allowed to keep over £300 in cash in our tills.

Reply

[-]

Alternative-Sea-6238@reddit

Vacuum tubes are still used in many hospitals, including ours. Helps transport blood samples etc quickly. However it is down frequently, no idea how old it is. There was a city called Rapture that also used vacuum tubes for communication purposes, but I haven't heard much about it recently. Would you kindly let me know if you want to hear more about it?

Reply

[-]

AnUdderDay@reddit

I thought he was talking about vacuum tube amps.

Reply

[-]

Exact_Setting9562@reddit

Its a very simple system in the shop - the capsule goes a few flights. You can't scale it up to 'getting things delivered home'. Just think about it for a minute. If you could do it Amazon would have built it and sacked their drivers.

Reply

[-]

levinyl@reddit

You'd have pipes everywhere!

Reply

[-]

jaminbob@reddit

Oh no. Brazil (the film) flashbacks.

Reply

[-]

levinyl@reddit

I had the chocolate pipe from charlie and the choc factory in my head

Reply

[-]

SnooRegrets8068@reddit

Watching futurama and having a smoke?

Reply

[-]

EntirelyRandom1590@reddit

It was fun cashing up at Xmas wondering if that £1000 would make it to the cash office.

Reply

[-]

EUskeptik@reddit

Imagine contaminating an entire vacuum system in a block of flats because your takeaway chicken tikka masala leaked… -oo-

Reply

[-]

Petrichor_ness@reddit

They had these installed in a brand new cinema I worked at whilst at uni. They were taken out of commission within six months. Turns out, you hire a bunch of students, you can't be surprised what they do to pass the time in boring shifts/wasted/stoned! My personal favourite (one of the more PG uses) was a manager in the back office who was having an affair with a staff member working in box office - unfortunately, the messages were intercepted and soon shared.

Reply

[-]

roddz@reddit

While useful for sending memos or cash a within a single building or via a dedicated tube network between two points vaccum tubes are not practice for wide spread use vs other methods as there are too many points of failure for an interconnected network between everyone that a postal service would entail.

Reply

[-]

Aggravating-Web-3050@reddit

https://preview.redd.it/0bbdi26ln12g1.jpeg?width=796&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=11c2ab4d621066b1b5b1fe6c61481d050d79313e Pepe silvia pepe Silvia I’ve got boxes of Pepe

Reply

[-]

Master-Trick2850@reddit

There's a bunch of videos on it, it was pretty rubbish tech

Reply

[-]

ProfPMJ-123@reddit

Electricity requires much thinner pipes than vacuum tubes.

Reply

[-]

GuybrushFunkwood@reddit

You’ve been watching Futurama haven’t you?

Reply

[-]

Mr_Bumcrest@reddit

You've been watching too much Futurama.

Reply

[-]

NotThatNeurotic@reddit

Like Nixie Tubes or Pneumatic Tubes?

Reply

[-]

AutoModerator@reddit

**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - When replying to submission/post please **make genuine efforts to answer the question given**. Please no jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Reply

Reply to Post

135 Comments