Elon Musk’s hyperloop idea has something of a nineteenth-century predecessor that Musk may or may not know anything about. In 1867 Alfred Ely Beach actually built a short pneumatic subway in New York that opened briefly in 1870. The development of electric locomotives and streetcars shortly afterward made his idea obsolete. But Beach certainly was a clever guy and a visionary who would probably be a close friend of Musk were he alive today:
Posted on: Tue, 13 Aug 2013 01:39:33 +0000