Message Tubes: Home Words and Work Words

Messages Through the Ceiling

1Early in the 1900s, Selma and her brother Bram helped test a message-tube system in a department store. Hollow tubes curved overhead. Air pressure moved small carriers through them, taking written messages from one counter to another. Today, the store's owner would watch a demonstration. Selma checked the carriers while Bram cleaned the counter.

2“Let's redd up before the owner arrives,” Bram said, gathering scraps of paper. Their family in Pittsburgh used redd up to mean tidy or clean. Selma picked up a carrier and frowned at its dusty lid. “This lid needs wiped,” she said. That wording, meaning needs to be wiped, was another familiar part of their family's speech. She rubbed the lid with a cloth.

3Ms. Vale, the engineer, examined the carrier. “Please inspect the seal,” she told Selma. The seal was the ring that helped keep air from leaking around the lid. Selma turned the carrier in her hands. “The seal fits tightly against the lid,” she reported. With the engineer, Selma used the technical words they needed for the job.

4Bram reached for the carrier, but Selma pulled it back. “Careful! It's slippy,” she warned. Ms. Vale paused. “Slippy?” Selma explained the word without embarrassment. “I mean slippery. There's some oil on the outside.” Ms. Vale nodded and handed her a fresh cloth. Selma wiped off the oil before setting the carrier beside the tube opening.

5When the owner arrived, Selma stood beside the equipment. She wanted someone unfamiliar with the system to understand each step. “Good afternoon. This carrier transports written messages between counters,” she began. “I will place a message inside and close the lid. Air pressure will move the carrier through the tube.” She spoke slowly, pointing to each part as she named it.

6The owner reached toward a second carrier. Selma noticed a little oil on it. “The surface is slippery. Please hold the carrier with this cloth,” she said. The owner thanked her. After the message arrived at the other counter, Ms. Vale asked Selma for a test report. “The carrier traveled through the tube without stopping,” Selma answered. Bram recorded the result.

7When the visitors left, Selma leaned toward Bram. “That went well! Give it a go?” She offered him the next message. Bram grinned. Selma had not forgotten her family's expressions while giving the demonstration. She had chosen words to suit her listeners, then settled back into their easy conversation.