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Trapdoors
A trapdoor is a sliding or hinged door in a floor or ceiling. It is traditionally small in size. It was invented to facilitate the hoisting of grain up through mills, however, its list of uses has grown over time. The trapdoor has played a pivotal function in the operation of the gallows, cargo ships, trains booby traps,and more recently theatre and films. History Originally, trapdoors were sack traps in mills, and allowed the sacks to pass up through the mill while naturally falling back to a closed position. Many buildings with flat roofs have hatches that provide access to the roof. On ships, hatches—usually not flush, and never called trapdoors—provide access to the deck. Cargo ships, including bulk carriers, have large hatches for access to the holds. Gallows Most 19th- and early 20th-century gallows featured a trapdoor, usually with two flaps. The victim will be placed at the join. The edge of a trapdoor farthest from the hinge accelerates faster than gravity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trapdoor
A trapdoor is a sliding or hinged door in a floor or ceiling. It is traditionally small in size. It was invented to facilitate the hoisting of grain up through mills, however, its list of uses has grown over time. The trapdoor has played a pivotal function in the operation of the gallows, cargo ships, trains booby traps,and more recently theatre and films. History Originally, trapdoors were sack traps in mills, and allowed the sacks to pass up through the mill while naturally falling back to a closed position. Many buildings with flat roofs have hatches that provide access to the roof. On ships, hatches—usually not flush, and never called trapdoors—provide access to the deck. Cargo ships, including bulk carriers, have large hatches for access to the holds. Gallows Most 19th- and early 20th-century gallows featured a trapdoor, usually with two flaps. The victim will be placed at the join. The edge of a trapdoor farthest from the hinge accelerates faster than gravity, so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trapdoor Spider
Trapdoor spider is a common name that is used to refer to various spiders from several different groups that create burrows with a silk-hinged trapdoor to help them ambush prey. Several families within the infraorder Mygalomorphae contain trapdoor spiders: * Actinopodidae, a family otherwise known as 'mouse-spiders', in South America and Australia * Antrodiaetidae, a family of 'folding trapdoor spiders' from the USA and Japan * Barychelidae, a family of 'brush-footed trapdoor spiders' with pantropical distribution * Ctenizidae, a family of 'cork-lid trapdoor spiders' in tropical and subtropical regions * Cyrtaucheniidae, a family of 'wafer-lid trapdoor spiders, with wide distribution except cooler regions * Euctenizidae, a family of spiders that make wafer-like or cork-like trapdoors * Halonoproctidae, a family of spiders that make wafer-like or cork-like trapdoors and includes the phragmotic genus ''Cyclocosmia'' * Idiopidae, a family of 'spurred-trapdoor spiders' or 'armoured ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amfleet
Amfleet is a fleet of single-level intercity railroad passenger cars built by the Budd Company for American company Amtrak in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Budd based the Amfleet design on its earlier Metroliner electric multiple unit. An initial order for 57 cars in 1973 to supplement the Metroliners on the Northeast Corridor grew to two orders totaling 642 cars, sufficient to reequip all the services on the Northeast Corridor and many other routes around the United States. The first 492 cars, known as Amfleet I and completed between 1975–1977, were designed for short-distance service. A second order of 150 cars, known as Amfleet II and completed between 1980–1983, were designed for long-distance service. They were the last intercity passenger cars built by Budd. Car types include both long- and short-distance coaches, cafes, club cars, and lounges. Since the construction of the cars, multiple rebuildings have eliminated the club cars and lounges in favor of business cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Economy Coffin
The economy coffin, hinged coffin or Josephinian coffin (german: Sparsarg, , or ) was a type of reusable coffin introduced by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor in the late 18th century. The body was carried in the coffin to the gravesite where it would be dropped into the grave through folding doors on the base. The coffin would then be reused. Background Joseph II was a reforming ruler who advocated Enlightenment principles. He was a keen proponent of natural law Natural law ( la, ius naturale, ''lex naturalis'') is a system of law based on a close observation of human nature, and based on values intrinsic to human nature that can be deduced and applied independently of positive law (the express enacte ... and adhered less strictly to Christian dogma than his predecessors. Many of his reforms were utilitarian in nature and also served to extend the reach of the state. Joseph made several decrees relating to burials, for reasons of hygiene. He introduced legally mandat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Railway Platform Height
Railway platform height is the built height – ''above top of rail (ATR)'' – of passenger platforms at stations. A connected term is ''train floor height'', which refers to the ATR height of the floor of rail vehicles. Worldwide, there are many, frequently incompatible, standards for platform heights and train floor heights. Where raised platforms are in use, train widths must also be compatible, in order to avoid both large gaps between platform and trains and mechanical interference liable to cause equipment damage. Differences in platform height (and platform gap) can pose a risk for passenger safety. Differences between platform height and train floor height may also make boarding much more difficult, or impossible, for wheelchair-using passengers and people with other mobility impairments, increasing station dwell time as platform or staff are required to deploy ramps to assist boarding. Platform ramps, steps, and platform gap fillers together with hazard warnings such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Viewliner
The Viewliner is a single-level railroad car type operated by Amtrak on most long-distance routes operating east of Chicago. The first production cars, consisting of an order of 50 sleeping cars, entered service in 1994. From 2015-2016, 70 Viewliner II baggage cars entered service. The new baggage cars are used on all Amtrak trains with full baggage cars, both single-level and bi-level, and replaced all of the Heritage Fleet baggage cars that Amtrak inherited from the freight railroads when it was established in 1971. From 2016-2019, 25 Viewliner II dining cars entered service, which replaced all of the Heritage Fleet dining cars. In 2019, 10 Viewliner II baggage-dormitory cars entered service. The last cars to enter service were 25 Viewliner II sleeping cars in 2021. Early design In the 1980s, Amtrak was looking to replace its Heritage Fleet railcars, which had been in service as far back as the 1940s. While new Superliner cars were built starting in 1979, those cars were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Walter Matthau
Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), ''King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a hapless little league team in the baseball comedy ''The Bad News Bears'' (1976). He also starred in 10 films alongside Jack Lemmon, including ''The Odd Couple'' (1968), ''The Front Page'' (1974) and '' Grumpy Old Men'' (1993). Matthau won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the Billy Wilder film ''The Fortune Cookie'' (1966). Matthau is also known for his performances in Stanley Donen's romance ''Charade'' (1963), Gene Kelly's musical '' Hello, Dolly!'' (1969), Elaine May's screwball comedy '' A New Leaf'' (1971) and Herbert Ross' ensemble comedy ''California Suite'' (1978). He also starred in ''Plaza Suite'', ''Kotch'' (both 1971), ''Charley Varrick'' (1973), ''The Sunshine Boys'' (1975), and ''Hopscotch'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn (born Audrey Kathleen Ruston; 4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993) was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, she was ranked by the American Film Institute as the AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars, third-greatest female screen legend from the Classical Hollywood cinema and was inducted into the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. Born in Ixelles, Brussels, to an aristocratic family, Hepburn spent parts of her childhood in Belgium, England, and the Netherlands. She studied ballet with Sonia Gaskell in Amsterdam beginning in 1945, and with Marie Rambert in London from 1948. She began performing as a chorus girl in West End theatre, West End musical theatre productions and then had minor appearances in several films. She rose to stardom in the romantic comedy ''Roman Holiday'' (1953) alongside Gregory Peck, for which she was the first actress to win an Academy Awards, Oscar, a Golden Globe Awards, Golden Globe Award, and a Brit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cary Grant
Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men from the 1930s until the mid-1960s. Grant was born and brought up in Bristol, England. He became attracted to theater at a young age when he visited the Bristol Hippodrome. At 16, he went as a stage performer with the Pender Troupe for a tour of the US. After a series of successful performances in New York City, he decided to stay there. He established a name for himself in vaudeville in the 1920s and toured the United States before moving to Hollywood in the early 1930s. Grant initially appeared in crime films and dramas such as ''Blonde Venus'' (1932) with Marlene Dietrich and '' She Done Him Wrong'' (1933) with Mae West, but later gained renown for his performances in romantic screwball ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charade (1963 Film)
''Charade'' is a 1963 American romantic comedy mystery film produced and directed by Stanley Donen, written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm, and starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. The cast also features Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, and Jacques Marin. It spans three genres: suspense thriller, Romance film, romance and Comedy film, comedy. ''Charade'' was praised by critics for its screenplay and the chemistry between Grant and Hepburn. It has been described as "the best Hitchcockian, Hitchcock movie [that] Alfred Hitchcock, Hitchcock never made". It was filmed on location in Paris and contains animated titles by Maurice Binder. Henry Mancini's score features the popular theme song "Charade (1963 song), Charade". In 2022, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". Plot While on holiday in the French Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube construction techniques rather than traditional tunnel boring methods. A tunnel may be for foot or vehicular road traffic, for rail traffic, or for a canal. The central portions of a rapid transit network are usually in the tunnel. Some tunnels are used as sewers or aqueducts to supply water for consumption or for hydroelectric stations. Utility tunnels are used for routing steam, chilled water, electrical power or telecommunication cables, as well as connecting buildings for convenient passage of people and equipment. Secret tunnels are built for military purposes, or by civilians for smuggling of weapons, contraband, or people. Special tunnels, such as wildlife crossings, are built to allow wildlife to cross human-made barriers safely. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dungeons
A dungeon is a room or cell in which prisoners are held, especially underground. Dungeons are generally associated with medieval castles, though their association with torture probably belongs more to the Renaissance period. An oubliette (from french ''oublier'' meaning to ''forget'') or bottle dungeon is a basement room which is accessible only from a hatch or hole (an ''angstloch'') in a high ceiling. Victims in oubliettes were often left to starve and dehydrate to death, making the practice akin to—and some say an actual variety of—immurement. Etymology The word ''dungeon'' comes from French ''donjon'' (also spelled ''dongeon''), which means " keep", the main tower of a castle. The first recorded instance of the word in English was near the beginning of the 14th century when it held the same meaning as ''donjon''. The proper original meaning of "keep" is still in use for academics, although in popular culture it has been largely misused and come to mean a cell or "oublie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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