7 August: Revolving Doors

On this date in 1888 Theophilus Van Kannel of Philadelphia received a patent for his revolving door. 19 things you might not know about revolving doors:

1. A revolving door consists of a central shaft with three or four panels called wings or leaves, which rotate within a cylindrical enclosure.
2. They are good things to have in large buildings because they form a kind of airlock and keep the heat (or cool, in hot countries) in. Studies have shown a revolving door can reduce energy costs by 30%. They also reduce something called stack pressure which is caused by air moving in and out of a building. Not to mention that they allow more people in and out of the building at any one time.
3. That said, if people are given a choice between using a revolving door and a normal one, only 20-30% would use the revolving door. However, at Columbia University, signs posted by the doors explaining about how their use reduces the carbon footprint of a building, resulted in the proportion of people using the revolving door went up from 28% to 71%.
4. Theophilus Von Kannel wasn’t the first person in the world to patent a revolving door. That was H. Bockhacker who filed a patent in Germany in 1881, which he named “Door without draft of air”.
5. Van Kannel’s invention was intended to be a storm door which would prevent Snow, rain, wind or dust from getting in, a door which could not be blown open by strong winds. Noise reduction was another advantage he cited.
6. The world’s first revolving door was installed at a restaurant in New York’s Times Square, called Rector’s.
7. Revolving doors often cause an etiquette dilemma. The usual convention is “Ladies first” but does this apply at a revolving door when it might need a hefty shove from the man to get it going? Etiquette experts say it should be the latter – at a revolving door the man should go first.
8. It’s said Van Kannel actually hated the social convention of men opening doors for women and thought his invention would make it unnecessary alongside all the other advantages. It’s also said that this might have contributed to the fact he never married. It’s also likely this was a myth as other sources say that he was as chivalrous as any Victorian gentleman and did have a wife, whose name was Amanda.
9. Another myth is that revolving doors were invented to stop Horses from entering buildings.
10. The world’s tallest revolving door, according to Guinness World Records, is in the Novotel Citygate Hong Kong hotel in Tung Chung, Hong Kong. It measures 4.8 m (15 ft 9 in).

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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