Compressed air as a domestic utility

By the 1870s, all the elements were available for widespread use of compressed air as a source of motive power:
  • Steam engines could easily drive compressors yielding perhaps 100 psig;
  • Pipe was available in commercial quantities (witness gas and water piping in major cities)
  • Compressed air to drive pistons or spin turbines was already well known (see Westinghouse's air brakes, for example)
So...let's assume someone gets the bright idea of any number of smaller machines getting driven by the somewhat noisy but effective air motor (silencers on the exhaust wouldn't be hard to come up with): perhaps home central heating, then a creature of natural convection, could be driven by blowers and made more efficient; portable power tools (drills, saws) could come about; you name it. (By the way, I'm postulating that something resembling the modern quick connect would be available rather than flanged or pipe threaded connections required.)

The Pneumatic Era would probably be relatively short-lived: say, from about 1870 to the first decade of the 20th century, when electrification started making more general inroads into homes. But could it / would it have been practical or economically viable?
 
I never knew that. Fascinating. And ~80 psig would drive a lot of things, although latter-day pneumatics are suited more to (I think ) 100 psig. Still not a huge step.

Well, apparently it never caught on in North America. OK, given that, what would it take to have compressed air as a utility in, say New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, or any of the other major US / Canadian cities in the latter years of the 19th century.
 
I never knew that. Fascinating. And ~80 psig would drive a lot of things, although latter-day pneumatics are suited more to (I think ) 100 psig. Still not a huge step.

Well, apparently it never caught on in North America. OK, given that, what would it take to have compressed air as a utility in, say New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Toronto, Baltimore, Chicago, Cincinnati, or any of the other major US / Canadian cities in the latter years of the 19th century.

There is the question of how well it scales. Pressure drop is a major factor both due to friction of the moving air past piping, fittings etc... and due to distance from the source. I'd imagine that on a metro wide sale the losses incurred will reach unfeasible levels. I know other energy transportation systems like electricity and natural gas also suffer from energy loss with increasing distance but cant comment exactly how compressed air would compare to anything else.
 
Hmmm....then we're back to the original premise. I haven't done any calculations, but off the top of my head, a pneumatic system would probably have generation at relatively high pressure with local reservoirs and step-down regulators for in-home use not unlike electric transmission (say, generation up to ~600 psig and letdown to ~100 psig locally).
 
Hmmm....then we're back to the original premise. I haven't done any calculations, but off the top of my head, a pneumatic system would probably have generation at relatively high pressure with local reservoirs and step-down regulators for in-home use not unlike electric transmission (say, generation up to ~600 psig and letdown to ~100 psig locally).
One further note: water motors are all well and good, but air motors don't have the mess / potential for damage attendant with leaks, failed seals, etc. that water motors do. One incentive to push that technology a bit farther.
 
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