Abstract: A dispatch and receive terminal that, in preferred form, includes an air tight pusher housing and a pusher flap swingably mounted to move between a retract position and an extend position in response to air pressure in that housing. In the dispatch or pressure mode, the pusher flap swings into an air tight terminal housing to push the carrier axially along the guide tray and partially back into the system tube. After the carrier has been initially dispatched back into the system tube, and as the pusher flap swings further into the terminal housing to an open position, the pusher flap structure opens a pressure port between the terminal and the pusher housings, thereby pressurizing the terminal housing and the system tube behind the carrier for pushing the carrier completely out of the housing and at least partially through the tube.

Abstract: A terminal for transmitting and receiving pneumatic carriers is disclosed having a pneumatic tube section which constitutes an upwardly directed extension of a combined transmit/receive line of a pneumatic tube system. The tube extension section is provided with a carrier insertion/removal opening which is normally closed by a vertically reciprocating door driven from a bidirectional drive mechanism. Also included is a catch pivotally mounted for movement between (a) an inner position projecting into the pneumatic tube extension section for supporting the base of a received carrier and (b) an outer position for permitting unobstructed passage of a carrier between the combined transmit/receive system line and the pneumatic tube extension section which constitutes an extension thereof. A counterweight is connected to the catch through a lost motion mechanism. The counterweight is also connected to the door drive mechanism via a link, e.g., a flexible cable.

Abstract: A pneumatic air terminal for receiving, presenting, and dispatching pneumatically driven carriers includes a housing, a door selectively opening and closing an opening in the housing, a carrier-receiving cradle, and common drive means for opening and closing the door and for driving the cradle to a carrier presentment position, when the door is opened, and to a retracted position across the terminal from the opening when the door is closed. In an up-receive, down-send terminal, the cradle is completely retracted from the path of an incoming carrier. The carrier is stopped and is held until the cradle moves beneath it and toward the door. In a down-receive, up-send terminal, the cradle is always within the path of, and beneath, an incoming carrier, the carrier coming to rest on the cradle. Each terminal includes an abutment surface for engaging and positioning a carrier in proper position for dispatch as the cradle is driven to a retracted position.