A Revolving Story
invent.org; Storm (revolving) door patent submission drawing in elevation, patft.uspo.gov; Rector's restaurant,
Broadway between 43rd and 44th Streets, New York, ca. 1900, edwardianpromenade.com /Artwork: designslinger]
If you ever find yourself having to do research about the first skyscrapers that were
built in this country, you may find a lot of references to other technologies that made the skyscraper possible. Of course there was the elevator, and the advancements made in the production of steel and glass. One technological wonder that often gets overlooked, is the invention of the revolving door.
The first world patent on the door we now know as the revolving, was filed by a German
named H. Bockhacker in 1881. However, the U.S. patent awarded to Theophilus Van Kannel in 1888, became the model for the door we still see in building entrances today.
The reason the door became important in skyscraper construction was because the
taller a building, the greater the interior air flow, which causes a vacuum. It doesn't happen as frequently in modern office towers, but if you've ever used a traditional door to enter the lobby of a tall building, you'll notice how hard it can be to pull the door open. And often, once you pull the door ajar, you'll feel the whoosh of air that sweeps past you as the door releases the air inside. The physics of the revolving door, eliminates that air transference.
Van Kannel patented his door because he said that with a regular door,
"every person passing through first brings a chilling gust of wind with
its snow rain or dust, including the noise of the street, then comes
the unwelcoming 'bang.'"
His intention was to install the door in private homes across America, and had 14 of
them in his home, which Van Kannel, a "confirmed bachelor," shared with his mother.
The first revolving door ever to be used by the public, was in the entryway of Rector's
in Times Square, an upscale restaurant for upscale New Yorkers which had it's grand opening on September 23, 1899. The evening's festivities were delayed for a while because the guests were so enthralled by the new mechanism that they spun round and round before finally exiting the twirling contraption. The restaurant was torn down in 1909 to make way for a much larger and more elegant version of the original.
The firm that Van Kannel founded to maufacture his invention morphed into the
International Revolving Door Company, which is still producing the door to this day.
Posted by designslinger at 4/2/2009 5:00 AM 
Categories: Technology, Architecture, Ephemera, History
Tags: Home Insurance Building Rector's Restaurant revolving door Theophilus Van Kannel
Categories: Technology, Architecture, Ephemera, History
Tags: Home Insurance Building Rector's Restaurant revolving door Theophilus Van Kannel
I enjoyed your blog. I had been trying to update my archives and was working on Theo Van Kannel when I stumbled on your blog. You posted this at 3am?!! Good job.
These revolving doors are used a lot in larger supermarkets in France! A very interesting post. The others too of course :)
Thanks!!