Delivery by Capsule
Jan. 27th, 2007 04:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mishalakThe future of physical delivery of goods considered with particular attention paid to the potential of Linmode systems in light of the decoupling of information from objects.
by Mishalak (of course)
One of my favorite 'forgotten' technologies is the capsule delivery system. Alongside dirigibles they are one of those technologies of the future that were not actually practical enough to overcome instillation hurdles. But idea is so seductive. Instead of trucks and cars moving things in a chain from producer to warehouse, to distribution center, to market, to consumer it would be producer, regional distribution, consumer with very little other than the product moving about. Just think of getting a little tiny train car like thing, call it linmode (for linear motor delivery), that would come right to a home or office with auto parts, fast food, raw goods, clothes, shoes, books, cosmetics, or pet supplies. Heck, even small pizzas could potentially be delivered if the capsule had about a 25cm cross section. Though obviously it would be less space efficient than getting Chinese food or burritos.
The old pneumatic systems never caught on because they were mostly useful for delivery of documents to a few high priority locations. They were fundamentally limited in the number of capsules that could go into the system and by the inefficiently of using air as the power transfer medium. But it seemed like these problems might have been eliminated by new technology. Using linear motors and a track or even maglev once room temperature superconductors became available the old energy inefficiently could be swept away and the number of capsules in the system could be as high as one every few seconds on heavily used lines. Or even coupled together on large trunk lines to reduce aerodynamic drag.
But the trouble is that a number of products that would be easiest to ship this way are the very ones that are currently in the process of becoming delivered by non-physical means. Music is at the forefront of this change with movies following a step or two behind. Books and other information conveyed by words are far ahead in a few areas, but largely much further behind due to numerous reasons that I won't go into yet again. Most people reading my journal are sci-fi fans of some sort and have at least a passing familiarity with where the state of electronic paper is at. But no matter how slow it is moving the trend is clear. The physical delivery of items such as CDs, movie discs, and books will be a thing of the past at some point aside from a few niche markets. (I'm probably going to keep collecting my favorite books in hardcover even when I replace buying/checking out paperbacks with reading them on an electronic book.)
And there is, of course, the problem of the large initial investment in such a system even if products going digital are not a large proportion of items being handled by shippers like the post, UPS, and Fed-Ex. Since there is already a large investment in road systems for moving anything able to conform to the very loose standards it wouldn't happen except in very limited niche markets by private capitol. And in the places with the most potential, crowded conditions making delivery by lorry in London problematic at times, the underground infrastructure is already very crowded indeed.
Ah, but only if. If I had silly amounts of money to dispose of I might build a test system in a neighborhood somewhere. Just to see if it would be practical outside the realm of alternate history fiction with its airships, tail fin landing rockets, and heat rays.
by Mishalak (of course)
One of my favorite 'forgotten' technologies is the capsule delivery system. Alongside dirigibles they are one of those technologies of the future that were not actually practical enough to overcome instillation hurdles. But idea is so seductive. Instead of trucks and cars moving things in a chain from producer to warehouse, to distribution center, to market, to consumer it would be producer, regional distribution, consumer with very little other than the product moving about. Just think of getting a little tiny train car like thing, call it linmode (for linear motor delivery), that would come right to a home or office with auto parts, fast food, raw goods, clothes, shoes, books, cosmetics, or pet supplies. Heck, even small pizzas could potentially be delivered if the capsule had about a 25cm cross section. Though obviously it would be less space efficient than getting Chinese food or burritos.
The old pneumatic systems never caught on because they were mostly useful for delivery of documents to a few high priority locations. They were fundamentally limited in the number of capsules that could go into the system and by the inefficiently of using air as the power transfer medium. But it seemed like these problems might have been eliminated by new technology. Using linear motors and a track or even maglev once room temperature superconductors became available the old energy inefficiently could be swept away and the number of capsules in the system could be as high as one every few seconds on heavily used lines. Or even coupled together on large trunk lines to reduce aerodynamic drag.
But the trouble is that a number of products that would be easiest to ship this way are the very ones that are currently in the process of becoming delivered by non-physical means. Music is at the forefront of this change with movies following a step or two behind. Books and other information conveyed by words are far ahead in a few areas, but largely much further behind due to numerous reasons that I won't go into yet again. Most people reading my journal are sci-fi fans of some sort and have at least a passing familiarity with where the state of electronic paper is at. But no matter how slow it is moving the trend is clear. The physical delivery of items such as CDs, movie discs, and books will be a thing of the past at some point aside from a few niche markets. (I'm probably going to keep collecting my favorite books in hardcover even when I replace buying/checking out paperbacks with reading them on an electronic book.)
And there is, of course, the problem of the large initial investment in such a system even if products going digital are not a large proportion of items being handled by shippers like the post, UPS, and Fed-Ex. Since there is already a large investment in road systems for moving anything able to conform to the very loose standards it wouldn't happen except in very limited niche markets by private capitol. And in the places with the most potential, crowded conditions making delivery by lorry in London problematic at times, the underground infrastructure is already very crowded indeed.
Ah, but only if. If I had silly amounts of money to dispose of I might build a test system in a neighborhood somewhere. Just to see if it would be practical outside the realm of alternate history fiction with its airships, tail fin landing rockets, and heat rays.
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(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-27 11:27 pm (UTC)Its odd you focus on books/music, as by far the greatest ammount of stuff delivered to houses is food and household consumables. But is there a supermarket delivery service in the US like there is in the UK.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-28 12:43 am (UTC)In the US home delivery of food is rather uncommon. One of the more spectacular e-business failures was this shopping for food website due to the high bulk and low profit margins of that business. I looked up the biggest categories, by dollar value of things sold through online, catalog, and phone sales and subsequent delivery via whatever system and I found that the biggest dollar values were computer hardware, apparel and accessories, pet supplies, and cosmetics. An in place system would logically be exploited by the higher margin fast food industry, but food like what would be purchased at a grocery store seems unlikely to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-28 08:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-01-28 08:58 pm (UTC)