| Alfred
Ely Beach and New York Subway |
• Coming
Soon to a New York Subway Near You
The entombed station, was the creation
of Alfred Ely Beach, an inventor whose vision of an underground railway
for Manhattan led him to the secret construction of a New York subway.
• Alfred
Ely Beach and the First - New York Subway
Alfred Ely Beach built a pneumatic
train - the first New York subway - a giant pneumatic tube - which ran
for one block west of City Hall in 1870.
• Secret,
New York Subway
"A tube, a car, a revolving fan!
Little more is required!" Such was the proclamation made by Alfred Ely
Beach in 1870. |
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By
Mary
Bellis
Alfred Ely Beach was an inventor
and the editor and co-owner of "Scientific American." In the first issue
of
"Scientific American," it was announced that the magazine would
help secure patents for U.S. inventors. Alfred Ely Beach was awarded patents
for an improvement he made to the typewriter
(1857), for a cable traction railway system (1864) and for a pneumatic
transit system (pneumatic tube) for mail
and passengers (1865).
In 1870, Alfred Ely Beach, tried
to construct a prototype pneumatic train subway in New York City, this
system failed to win over the municipal authorities, who later built elevated
trains instead. Alfred Beach's pneumatic New York subway, a giant pneumatic
tube ran for one block west of City Hall and was based on his 1865 patent.
It was America's first subway.
New York
Subway System Opened for Business October 27, 1904
 On
Thursday afternoon, October 27, 1904, the mayor of New York City, George
B. McClellan, officially opened the New York subway system. The first subway
train left City Hall station with the mayor at the controls, and 26 minutes
later arrived at 145th Street. The subway opened to the general public
at 7 p.m. that evening, and before the night was over, 150,000 passengers
had ridden the trains through the underground tunnels.
Alfred Ely Beach
born Sept. 1, 1826 , Springfield,
Mass., U.S.
died Jan. 1, 1896 , New York, N.Y.
Photo Credit:
"City Hall subway station, New York." Between 1900 and 1906. Touring Turn-of-the-Century
America: Photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company, 1880 - 1920,
Library of Congress.
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Tube and the History of Pneumatic Devices
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