Whatnot Wednesday & #ThursdayDoors — Automatic Doors

Posted on by Teagan Riordain Geneviene
Wednesday, November 20, 2024

Above, the Pointer Sisters perform “Automatic.”

Hello, all.  To help us over the midweek hump, that’s a blast from the past (1984) with the Pointer Sisters.  I remembered the song, but never realized it was them.  The song was a great fit because I’ve been working on a Thursday Doors post about automatic doors…  I wanted to write a bit of flash fiction to go with it, but that just wasn’t happening.  However, one of the Scoobies insisted on being part of the post… and that didn’t go with the doors…  So, a Whatnot Wednesday post ensued. Let’s go ahead with the “Whatnot” part.

Whatnot Wednesday

With Velma napping elsewhere, Daphne was actually being cooperative about having her photo taken.   Then she went all diva and said:
I'm ready for my closeup, Ms. DeMille
I’m ready for my closeup, Ms. DeMille…
I Photoshopped away the parts with my feet and a messy room in the background… but it wasn’t exactly the Sistine Chapel.  Daphne demanded something worthy of Michelangelo. “Daphne, you can’t mean… the Creation of Adam?”
Michelangelo the Creation of Adam, Wikipedia
Michelangelo the Creation of Adam, Wikipedia

“Adam smadam…  Yummy Human, I just gave you my best look-over-the-shoulder glamour pose.  Now, if you please, I’d like The Creation of Cat.  Hmmm… I’d nibble the finger of Yummy, but maybe I should keep my teeth to myself with the Big Guy.  Although, that actually looks just like Yummy’s index finger and thumb.”

The Creation of Cat, staring Daphne, by Teagan
The Creation of Cat, staring Daphne, by Teagan

Thursday Doors

I’m sharing another of the inventions from Real Steampunkery Tech: True Contraptions of the Steam and Diesel Eras.

Automatic Doors

In the 1st century AD, mathematician Heron of Alexandria in Roman Egypt invented the first known automatic door. He described two different automatic door applications. The first application used heat from a fire lit by the city’s temple priest. After a few hours atmospheric pressure built up in a brass vessel causing it to pump water into adjacent containers. These containers acted as weights that – through a series of ropes and pulleys – would open the temple’s doors at about the time people were to arrive for prayer. Heron used a similar application to open the gates to the city.
Wilcoxs Pier Restaurant West Haven CT 1st automatic doors c1931
Wilcox’s Pier Restaurant West Haven CT 1st automatic doors circa 1931
In 1931, engineers Horace H. Raymond and Sheldon S. Roby of the tool and hardware manufacturer Stanley Works designed the first model of an optical device triggering the opening of an automatic door. The invention was patented and installed in Wilcox’s Pier Restaurant in West Haven, Connecticut for the benefit of waiters carrying plates of food and drink. The entire system plus installation was sold for $100. In a letter to Stanley Works, the restaurant’s president wrote, “They are one of the most satisfactory pieces of equipment which we have ever installed … and have certainly speeded up the service of our waitresses.”
Modern automatic sliding doors, Wikipedia
Modern automatic sliding doors, Wikipedia
In 1954, Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt invented the first sliding automatic door. The automatic door used a mat actuator. In 1960, they co-founded Horton Automatics Inc and placed the first commercial automatic sliding door on the market. With the invention of the Gunn diode, microwave motion detectors became common in automatic doors in the 1970s.  In 1980, the first automatic door using an infrared sensor was introduced.

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Thanks for opening this door.  Friendly comments are encouraged.  Hugs!

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I must include the obligatory shameless self-promotion.

Real Steampunkery Tech: True Contraptions of the Steam and Diesel Eras

*Revised cover "Real Steampunkery Tech: True Contraptions of the Steam and Victorian Eras Universal Purchase Links E-book:  relinks.me/B0DHC6JFVT Paperback:  relinks.me/B0DHD9BSJB

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Thursday Doors is a weekly feature allowing door lovers to come together to admire and share their favorite door photos from around the world. It’s hosted by Dan Antion.  Feel free to join in on the fun by creating your own Thursday Doors post each week and then sharing your link in the comments below, anytime between 12:01 am Thursday morning and Saturday noon (North American eastern time).

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Copyright © 2024 by Teagan Ríordáin Geneviene

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60 thoughts on “Whatnot Wednesday & #ThursdayDoors — Automatic Doors”

  1. Apologies for my late response. I was undergoing physiotherapy, had a bad back and shoulder blade pain. I’m okay now, almost recovered. Yeah this is a great way to blend history and Thursday Doors. I always love to share some stories in the comment. So back in 1990 it was the first time I saw a store in my area that had these automatic doors. The store was Metro Shoes (the brand is still functional). However, we were quite middle-class so my mom and dad would not dare enter because it looked quite posh from the outside, you know the decor, lighting and all that. I wanted to go in (I was 10) because for me it would be fun. In 1991, next year, my sister was getting married and guess what she told dad that she would love to buy a pair for her wedding from Metro. I was like (all the bulbs went on) please please please take me along. She was like okay okay I will. However, one fine day I came from school and there was this box of new shoes with Metro on it. I was like, WHAT? and my sis is like I had no choice the aunts came in and we went off for shopping. I was so disappointed. My mom was like Its a ladies shoe showroom and right now there are plenty of things to handle so stop your tantrums and focus on your studies. I was like okay. A decade later in 2001, I went for an interview and when I least expected I got an elevator with an automatic door.

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    1. Hi Sharukh. I had been wondering how your back was doing. I’m glad you’re on the mend. Physical therapy can be awfully painful, but usually quite helpful. Keep it up.

      Thanks for sharing this delightful story. I was right there in the moment with child-you. My first memory of an automatic door was at my small town grocery store. It was the 1960s. I was very young, and my little sister 3 years younger than me. I don’t recall is the store was new, or just that amazing moving door was all that was new… I remember the store manager standing near the door, cautioning parents not to let their small kids close to it.

      My mother was never paying attention to what we were doing (I won’t go into all that crap). Anyway my sister got too close to the moving door and it ran over her toes. She of course cried, my mother, being her Munchausen by Prox, attention-seeking self, cried even louder, getting plenty of attention for herself. I guess that’s why I’m not overly impressed when I see automatic doors. But I hoped that I could make a fun post of them, just the same. Actually I haven’t remembered that episode for ages until just now.

      Take care. Hugs to you and Sarah.

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  2. What a perfect doors post, Teagan! I love the history behind the sliding door, and of course everyone loves PD Daphne (that would be prima donna), especially in her Creation of Cat role. 😀

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  3. That Heron of Alexandria really started something, didn’t he? As for the cat, I’d say, based on my experience with cats, that the artwork would more properly be titled “Creation of God.”

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  5. LOL. The “Creation of Cat” cracked me up. So funny.

    And an interesting history on automatic doors, Teagan. It’s fascinating to realize how much door automation has taken place in my lifetime. Now I feel old. Hehe. Thanks for the fascinating info!

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  6. Teagan, why has no one ever featured automatic doors for this weekly prompt! That’s been such an oversight and you’ve more than made up for this! A fascinating dip into their history and I had no idea that they featured in  the 1st century AD! Incredible. I’m loving the song, brings me back to my first year as a teen, bopping around the bedroom. The clothes are a hoot! Creation of Cat is inspired and has me giggling away. 😀

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    1. It’s good to see you, Annika. Yes that part in ancient Egypt made me do a double take. Then I thought, “Oh yeah… the pyramids” (and their other wonders)… Then I shrugged. LOL.
      The Pointer Sisters really had an eye for costumes as well as fashion. I remember that in a couple of their videos they wore 1940s costumes. Thank you for this wonderful comment. Hugs.

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  7. “I’m ready for my closeup…” ANOTHER SUNSET BOULEVARD FAN!!!! I’m so happy! And your Steampunkery book constantly delights me with tidbits about the early early early conception and implementation of past technology to achieve effects we think of as modern.

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  11. Love the pics of Daphne – very diva-ish of her, lol! I’ve been trying to put Christmas decorations out today, but Bond has been napping in one of the boxes for the past couple hours. Cats and boxes.

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    1. It’s lovely to see you, Sue. LOL, Daphne is definitely a snuggler — loud purrs, “makes biscuits” — but her biscuits are like she’s attacking a punching bag (no claws, just punches). She’s funny. Hugs winging back to you. ❤

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  17. The Creation of the Cat – Michelangelo should have thought of that! I wonder if God had some tuna juice on his fingers?

    I love the Pointer Sisters but don’t recall this song. Anyway, the history of automatic doors was fascinating!!!

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    1. Hahaha! Maybe so, Noelle. I’m glad you enjoyed the doors too.
      It’s funny, I knew the song, but never realized it was one of theirs. The voice sounds different to me than their other songs. Actually, I always thought that was a male singer… not that it’s that low, just something in the tone. Thanks for opening this door. Hugs.

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  20. Daphne is a beauty. I think the Creation of Cat would look like that. Wilcox’s Pier Restaurant may be long gone, but Stanley Works remains in CT and they are still making doors, automatic and otherwise. I always get the Pointer Sisters confused with Sister Sledge, but I liked both groups’ music.

    I hope you have a nice easy slide down the second half of this week, Teagan.

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    1. Daphne and I thank you, Dan. Although she’s assisting in answering comments right now — aka determined to bite me while I try to type. LOL
      I never knew that was a Pointer Sisters song until I did this post. I actually thought it was a male singer… just something about the tone. I remember the name Sister Sledge but other than “We Are Family”, I don’t remember what they sang.
      It’s a pretty day here… and yet I haven’t managed to accomplish anything beyond some social media, blog comments, and writing most of a new blog post for next week. Time sure slips away. Hugs.

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