Who and when invented the automatic door?
In 1954, Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt invented the automatic door. It took 6 years to start mass production right after the invention. The idea behind the birth of the first automatic door is also quite interesting. Horton and Hewitt thought of inventing and produced the automatic door because the doors in their location were difficult to close in extreme winds.
In 1954, Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt, employees of the Horton Glass Company in Texas, were replacing a window damaged by the strong winds of South Texas. This type of damage was very common in ordinary window systems that opened/closed inwards or outwards, which were widely used at that time. Worse still, strong winds could also cause the door or window to slam in the face of anyone walking towards it at the time. So the duo set out to produce a better door system.
Despite these early references, it wasn't until 1954 that Americans Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt were credited with the invention of the first automatic doors as we know them today – after studying the difficulties faced by people trying to use swing doors in windy Corpus Christi, Texas.
The first automatic door they produced was an electrically activated sliding door system and was designed to open the door when pressing the mat in front of the door. This design not only solved the problem of the door opening due to the wind, but also enabled customers or delivery people with full hands to open the door without using their hands. Installing a test unit at the city's Department of Public Services, the team began selling sliding doors in 1960. The first commercially available automatic door was realized at a restaurant in Corpus Christi. The team patented their invention in 1964 and Horton Automatics was founded. Hewitt also invented sliding windows some time later.
Sliding doors are still one of the most widely used door systems for entrances to offices and public buildings today. Thanks to its user-friendly mechanism and simplicity, the system has been perfected since its invention and has a sharp technical infrastructure. Sliding doors have become so widely used today that, especially in developed countries, at the entrance to a public shopping mall or city hall, people have become confused for a short time when the doors do not open automatically.
The History of Automatic Doors
https://www.automaticaccess.co.uk/blog/the-history-of-automatic-doors/
How automatic door mechanisms work
https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-automatic-door-mechanisms-work/