“Going Green” since 1888

By Paige Carpenter

Entering a building is something that many of us don’t think about as we open and close
many doors throughout the day. Opening and shutting, entering and exiting, it seems that there
isn’t much more to it. The doors of our future actually began in the mind of a very bright man
from Philadelphia in 1888. His vision has laid the groundwork for a very energy efficient
component in the construction of the buildings of this millennium.

“Going Green” seems to be an initiative that has only just recently come into worldwide
acceptance in the past few decades, especially in the United States. Many of today’s inventions
have energy efficiency as the main goal; one of which is the revolving door. In the late 1800s,
an inventor by the name of Theophilus Van Kannel, of Philadelphia, designed a mechanism that
helps buildings to become more environmentally friendly in this century. He was the inventor of
the revolving door. Van Kannel actually received two patents; one for a “Storm Door Structure”
and one for the “Revolving Door Structure”. For this important invention, Van Kannel received
many honors, including the John Scott Legacy Medal awarded by the Franklin Institute in
Philadelphia.

In 1900, Theophilus Van Kannel received a patent for his revolving door structure, an
expansion on the storm door structure. As depicted in figure 1, from Van Kannel’s patent, the
first version of the revolving door was archaic. It was made of 4 wooden planks, forming the
door wings connected to a pivotal center pin. This mechanism enabled the movement of the
doors around the pin, but permitting the doors to be moved over to one side when needed. The
movement of these four doors is dictated by a pulley system using cranks and chains.

The revolving door of today has the same basic structure as the door devised by Van
Kannel in the late 1800s. The main design remains; a central pin and doors which revolve
around that pin to allow people to enter and exit easily. Some key differences in the design are
that the revolving door has a different mechanism of collapsing, and the doors are made of glass.

The idea for the collapsible doors, as outlined in the patent for the revolving door
structure, was to enable the entrance of large vehicles such as a wheeled carriage or truck into a
building. At that time, it was reasonable to accommodate for such vehicles, but today that is no
longer the case. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the
panels of a revolving door must be collapsible to a 180° angle so that there are two clear
passageways or the doors must be rigid, but on a hinge that swings the whole structure outwards
to create a clear path. This regulation was placed on revolving doors in the 1940s in response to
a tragic accident. According to the Boston Fire Department report, a popular night club, which
used revolving doors, went up in flames. According to reports, 503 people trapped inside died
from smoke inhalation because the single revolving door at the entrance was jammed when the
panicked mob tried to escape. The collapsible feature of the revolving door ensures the safety of
people within a building in the case of an emergency.
 Another way to ensure the safety of those who pass through a revolving door is the
material in which the panels are made. Glass doors enable people travelling through the doors to
anticipate each other while passing through. Another feature that has changed since Theophilus
Van Kannel’s original design is the incorporation of electricity to automate the revolving door.

The main objectives of the original design of the revolving door were to keep drafts in,
and debris out, while allowing for copious numbers people to move through. In addition, the
current design of the revolving door has the goal of being energy efficient and safe.

The revolving door was an innovative mechanism, as one of its key features is being
energy efficient. This helps with “Going Green”, an initiative that is receiving more and more
attention, especially in the past few decades. According to a study at MIT, revolving doors save
a lot of energy compared to regular swing doors. On average, eight times more air is exchanged
using a regular swing door than a revolving door. This means that the “conditioned” air is
mixing more frequently with outside air, causing higher electricity bills. If revolving doors were
used instead of swing doors, there would be a 74% savings in energy consumption in the form of
heating and cooling air, as reported in this study.

In addition to being energy efficient, it is used as a safety measure in large structures,

such as skyscrapers, to control the flow of air in and out of the building. Skyscrapers require a
structure to block the draft to prevent the sucking in of air through the base at high speeds during
heating and cooling, called the chimney effect. This can be very dangerous because of the
speeds at which the air is funneled through the base of the building and out the vents of the roof.

Very recently, revolving doors have been used at security checkpoints in areas such as
airports to prevent people from entering the exit in order to bypass security. All of these
advantages stemmed from the invention of Theophilus Van Kannel over a century ago.

In response to this great invention, the Franklin Institute awarded Van Kannel the John
Scott Legacy Medal. This award is given to "the most deserving" men and women whose
inventions have contributed in some outstanding way to the "comfort, welfare and happiness" of
mankind. Among the invention of the revolving door is the electric clock, the sewing machine
and the lock. This is an incredible award to receive because the revolving door was seen as a
great contribution to society even in the infancy of its design stages.

Theophilus Van Kannel had a vision of a storm door structure that has evolved over the
past century and is worth investigating further. There are technical aspects to this mechanism
that can be described beyond the aesthetic value of the everyday revolving door. There have
been studies on the “green” advantages that revolving doors can provide to the building in which
they are installed in.
 Works Cited

Banham, Reyner. Architecture of the well-tempered environment. London: Architectural P.,

1969. Print. This book has descriptions of van Kannel's company and timely invention.
This source can be found in the PSU library, therefore being credible.
The Federal Reporter with Key-Number Annotations. Permanent ed. Vol. 276. St. Paul: West
Company, 1922. Print. The print was found in the google books search with digitized
articles on the law suit dealing with the patent after it had already been issued. This will
add a new story to the invention of the revolving door.
Inductees of the National Inventors Hall of Fame. National Inventors Hall of Fame Foundation,
2002. Print. This publication has a description of those inventors inducted into the
National Inventors Hall of Fame and their respective inventions. This book can be found
in the PSU library.
Kidder, Frank E. Building construction and superintendence. 6th ed. W. T. Comstock, 1909.
Print. 1,2. This source describes in more detail the recognition given to van Kannel for
the revolving door from the Franklin Institute. This source can be located on the google
books digitized library.
Sustainability at MIT. "Revolving Doors." Web log post. Generator Projects. Sustainability @
MIT. Web. 15 Feb. 2010. <http://sustainability.mit.edu/projects/revolving-doors>. This is
a very credible source posted by students from MIT. The blog post is well cited with
many graphs and tables that will assist in understanding the uses of the revolving door in
saving energy.
Van Kannel, Theophilus. Revolving Door Structure. T. Van Kannel, assignee. Patent 641,563. 16
Jan. 1900. Print. This source is very credible. It was found using the google patent search
and has patent numbers and drawings of the invention. This will be a useful tool when
describing the mechanics of the invention and as a visual for the final report.

Figure 1. Patent drawing

Figure 2. Patent drawing of Figure 3. Motorized
from revolving door
revolving door revolving door of today