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An automatic door, also known as an auto door, is a
OPTEX celebrates 40 years of sensor innovation and development in 2019
/ref>
An automatic door, also known as an auto door, is a door
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security b ...
that opens automatically, usually on sensing the approach of a person.
History
In the 1st century AD, mathematician Heron of Alexandria inRoman Egypt
, conventional_long_name = Roman Egypt
, common_name = Egypt
, subdivision = Province
, nation = the Roman Empire
, era = Late antiquity
, capital = Alexandria
, title_leader = Praefectus Augustalis
, image_map = Roman E ...
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.
In 1931, engineers Horace H. Raymond and Sheldon S. Roby of the tool and hardware manufacturer Stanley Works
Stanley Black & Decker, Inc., formerly known as The Stanley Works, is a Fortune 500 American manufacturer of industrial tools and household hardware and provider of security products. Headquartered in the greater Hartford city of New Britain, ...
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 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 detector
A motion detector is an electrical device that utilizes a sensor to detect nearby motion. Such a device is often integrated as a component of a system that automatically performs a task or alerts a user of motion in an area. They form a vital co ...
s became common in automatic doors in the 1970s. And in 1980 the first automatic doors using an infrared sensor was introduced./ref>
In popular culture
* In H. G. Wells’ 1899 serialised story '' When the Sleeper Wakes'' appears an automatic door that slides upwards into the ceiling. * Automaticpocket door
A pocket door is a sliding door that, when fully open, disappears into a compartment in the adjacent wall. Pocket doors are used for architecture, architectural effect, or when there is no room for the swing of a hinged door. They can travel on r ...
s are a common fixture of the fictional universe of ''Star Trek
''Star Trek'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Gene Roddenberry, which began with the eponymous 1960s television series and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has expanded into vari ...
''.
See also
* Electronic lockReferences
{{Authority control Types of gatesbr>Automatic Garage Door