Editing Pneumatic tube (section)

=== Contemporary use ===
The technology is still used on a smaller scale. While its use for communicating information has been superseded by electronics, pneumatic tubes are widely used for transporting small objects, where convenience and speed in a local environment are important.<ref name="STAN"/>

In the United States, drive-up banks often used pneumatic tubes to transport cash and documents between cars and tellers; by the 2020s some of these have been removed, obviated by the rise of mobile banking apps and the increasing sophistication of [[Automatic teller machines|ATMs]]. Many hospitals have a computer-controlled pneumatic tube system to deliver drugs, documents, and specimens to and from laboratories and nurses' stations.<ref name="STAN"/> Many factories use them to deliver parts quickly across large campuses. Many larger stores use systems to securely transport excess cash from checkout stands to back offices, and to send change back to cashiers.<ref>{{Cite web|author-first=Chris|author-last=Woodford|author-link=Chris Woodford (author)|title=How pneumatic tube transport works|url=http://www.explainthatstuff.com/pneumatic-tube-transport.html|website=Explain that Stuff|date=8 October 2010|access-date=2020-05-27}}</ref><!-- This may be out of date.--> They are used in casinos to move money, chips, and cards quickly and securely. Japanese [[love hotel]]s use them to allow customers to settle bills anonymously (no face-to-face contact).<ref>Janell L. Carroll, ''Sexuality Now: Embracing Diversity'', p. 248, Cengage Learning, 2015 {{ISBN|1305446038}}.</ref> NASA's original [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center|Mission Control Center]] had pneumatic tubes connecting controller consoles with staff support rooms.  [[Christopher C. Kraft Jr. Mission Control Center#Mission Operations Control Room 2|Mission Operations Control Room 2]], was last used in its original configuration in 1992 and then remodeled for other missions.  Because the room was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1985, it was decided in 2017 to restore it to its 1960s condition.<ref>[https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/pages.ashx/749/The%20historic%20Apollo%20Mission%20Control%20Center%20will%20be%20restored "The historic Apollo Mission Control Center will be restored"], ''Round Up Reads'', NASA [[Johnson Space Center]], 29 November 2017, retrieved and archived 3 November 2021.</ref>  The pneumatic tubes were removed and sent to the [[Cosmosphere]] in Kansas for restoration.<ref>Sandra Jones, [https://roundupreads.jsc.nasa.gov/pages.ashx/821/Five%20things%20to%20know%20about%20the%20restoration%20of%20the%20Apollo%20MCC "Five things to know about the restoration of the Apollo MCC"], ''Round Up Reads'', NASA Johnson Space Center, 16 April 2018, retrieved and archived 3 November 2021.</ref>

[[File:Mission Operations Control Room during Apollo 13.jpg|thumb|left|NASA [[Mission Control Center]] during the [[Apollo 13]] mission. Note pneumatic tube canisters in console to the right.]]
Pneumatic tube systems have been used in [[nuclear chemistry]] to transport samples during [[neutron activation analysis]]. Samples must be moved from the nuclear reactor core, in which they are bombarded with neutrons, to the instrument that measures the resulting radiation. As some of the radioactive isotopes in the sample can have very short half-lives, speed is important. These systems may be automated, with a magazine of sample tubes that are moved into the reactor core in turn for a predetermined time, before being moved to the instrument station and finally to a container for storage and disposal.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Becker |first1=D.A.|title=Characterization and use of the new NIST rapid pneumatic tube irradiation facility |journal=Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry |volume=233 |issue=1–2|pages=155–160 |date=22 June 1998 |doi=10.1007/bf02389664|bibcode=1998JRNC..233..155B |s2cid=95502740|url=https://zenodo.org/record/1232540}}</ref>

Until it closed in early 2011, a [[McDonald's]] in [[Edina, Minnesota]] claimed to be the "World's Only Pneumatic Air Drive-Thru," sending food from their strip-mall location to a drive-through in the middle of a parking lot.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMM82_Pneumatic_Air_Drive_Thru_McDonalds|title=Pneumatic Air Drive-Thru McDonald's|work=[[Waymarking]] website|access-date=12 February 2010}}</ref>

Technology editor Quentin Hardy noted renewed interest {{as of|2015|lc=y}} in transmission of data by pneumatic tube accompanied discussions of digital network security,<ref>{{cite web | last =Hardy | first =Quentin | title =The Mechanical World | work =What We're Reading | publisher =The New York Times | date =March 6, 2015 | url =http://news.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/06/what-were-reading-35/ | access-date = March 7, 2015}}</ref> and he cited research into London's forgotten pneumatic network.<ref>{{cite web | title = On The Blower: London's Lost Pneumatic Messaging Tubes | work =Lapsed Historian | date =February 14, 2015 | url =http://lapsedhistorian.com/get-blower-londons-forgotten-pneumatic-messaging-tubes/ | access-date = March 7, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150304165118/http://lapsedhistorian.com/get-blower-londons-forgotten-pneumatic-messaging-tubes/ | archive-date = March 4, 2015}}</ref>

Related applications include [[fish cannon]]s<ref>{{Cite web|title=Watch This 'Salmon Cannon' Shoot Endangered Fish Through a Tube—to Save Them|url=http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/09/23/salmon-cannon-shoots-endangered-fish-through-tube-22-mph-and-thats-good-thing|access-date=2020-08-05|website=TakePart |first=David |last=Kirby |date=2014-09-24 |language=en |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140926072441/http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/09/23/salmon-cannon-shoots-endangered-fish-through-tube-22-mph-and-thats-good-thing |archivedate=2014-09-26}}</ref> which use mechanisms very similar to pneumatic tube systems.
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