ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Prague pneumatic post

Okay, so have you ever sent a letter in the mail? Well, in Prague a long time ago, they had a special way of sending letters called the Prague Pneumatic Post.

Instead of just putting the letter in a mailbox and waiting for someone to pick it up and take it where it needs to go, they used special pipes and air pressure to send the letters super fast!

It's kind of like blowing up a balloon and then letting it go really quickly - the air rushing out of the balloon pushes it forward really fast, right? Well, the people in Prague used that same kind of air pressure to send the letters.

They put the letter in a little container that fit in the pipes and then used a special machine to suck out all the air from behind it. Then, they would quickly let the air back in, and the pressure would push the container and letter through the pipes to its destination.

It was really cool because it was a lot faster than regular mail, and it helped people get their important messages to where they needed to go quickly. Nowadays, we have other ways of sending messages quickly, but the Prague Pneumatic Post was a very clever and special way they did it long ago.