Pneumo Tube

Pneumo Tubes were the primary postal service in Rapture prior to the Civil War, and also delivered packaged food to different parts of the city.

History
Ryan Industries installed the Pneumo system in 1956, on the 10th anniversary of Rapture's founding. Pneumo tubes were commonly located in Jet Postal substations, which handled the bulk of mail processing and delivery throughout the city. However, individual pneumo tubes can also be found in residential or business sectors, such as the ones seen in Fort Frolic, and were labeled with a serial number system similar to mail box numbering on the surface. This numbering system included letter abbreviations of the level of Rapture in which the tube was located. However, since the Civil War the pneumo tubes have become quite unreliable and useful only for short range message transport. This is due to the damage Splicers caused to the pneumatics controlling the air flow. Sending a message long range could send it anywhere in Rapture.

BioShock
Pneumo tubes are large, trashcan-like devices found around Rapture. Almost all of them are searchable containers. They are used in the storyline at various times to send items. Jack sent items to people and could receive items through the pneumo system. Pneumo tubes occasionally contain high value items, and are definitely something to look into every time they are available.

BioShock 2
The pneumo delivery system is prominent in BioShock 2, and several stations are present in different parts of the city, equivalent to post offices for each district. One pneumo tube station is encountered in the Atlantic Express workshop, where Subject Delta finds the Telekinesis Plasmid and can test it on the cans of food that are shot out of the broken pneumatic pipes. A larger station can also be seen in the lobby of The Sinclair Deluxe in Pauper's Drop. This station was installed to provide mail delivery for all the residents of the hotel.

Behind the Scenes

 * Pneumo tubes are based on their real life counterparts, the pneumatic tubes.
 * As discussed and shown in the Deco Devolution Artbook, early on in BioShock 2 ' s development, the game designers planned for pneumo tubes to be part of a network of bartering with non-spliced characters. The player would enter a improvised sealed box with a TV, improvised radio, and pneumo in it, and Subject Delta would contact a non-spliced items dealer, and thus deal with him/her. As the game developed further this concept was dropped.