Have you ever taken a moment to think about how incredible automatic doors are?
For many of us, they are an unexamined part of life. They are something so familiar to us that we rarely think about how much they benefit us.
One way to realize how important automatic doors are to our daily lives is to imagine yourself without them. Pushing your loaded grocery cart out of the grocery store? Hauling your family’s luggage into a busy airport lobby?
Those are some of the obvious ones, but what about the automatic doors that allow hospitals to easily transport patients from one wing to another while maintaining a healthy environment? Or doors that allow large crowds to move comfortably through an arena or venue? Doors that make our buildings accessible to all people, including those with disabilities?
What better time to pause and recognize the convenience and importance of these doors than National Automatic Door Day.
While most people may not know about Automatic Door Day, it’s something we definitely celebrate here at Horton Automatics. We’re excited to share some of our automatic door knowledge with you!
Horton Automatics and the History of the Automatic Door
Horton Automatics is proud to have played a pioneering role in the history and development of automatic doors.
In the mid-1950s, Lew Hewitt and Dee Horton were frustrated by windy conditions in Corpus Christi, Texas, because the wind made their swing doors difficult to operate. When they decided to invent an automatic sliding door to make their own facility run more smoothly, they ended up revolutionizing pedestrian access to indoor spaces.
Horton Automatics has become the industry leader in automatic doors, and we are connected with the biggest names in door technologies. We are a division of Overhead Door Corporation, another industry pioneer. Before Lew and Dee invented the automatic door, Overhead Door invented the first upward-acting door and the first electric door opener, both in the 1920s.
Horton’s innovations didn’t end with the invention of the automatic door. To this day, we continue to be actively involved in moving this technology forward and making the world a better place through meaningful automatic door technologies.
Recent Product Innovation at Horton
Automatic door technology didn’t stop developing with the invention of that first automatic door. For the last 60+ years, our engineers have developed creative ways to solve unique problems.
Here are some of the recent developments that we are proud of here at Horton!
The Secure Exit Lane (SEL) provides one-way pedestrian traffic from secure to nonsecure zones.
Secure Exit Lanes (SEL)
In a grocery store or public building, it makes sense that people can go in and out of the automatic doors. However, there are plenty of buildings where traffic needs to be directed in just one way.
Airports, train stations, entertainment venues, sports arenas, theme parks–these are just some of the examples of places that benefit from Secure Exit Lanes (SEL). This system creates a physical barrier between non-secure and secure spaces, maintains traffic flow, allows for safe evacuation or exit, and reduces the need for in-person monitoring.
Hurricane-Rated Sliding Door System
An automatic door can’t just be practical. It also must be safe. We offer the HD Storm™ Level E Hurricane-Rated Sliding Door System that can withstand pressures of up to 85 lb-per-square-foot. These are approved by Miami-Dade County, which is a testament to their strength and safety rating.
These doors feature heavy-duty rails with integrated steel tubing and corner blocks. Combined, these features create the kind of robust structural integrity that is needed to withstand winds from tropical storms. These doors are far superior to the through-bolt panels that can be found in those mass-produced sliding door systems.
Automatic Revolving Door Systems
Automatic revolving door systems are highly desirable in heavy traffic situations, especially when energy savings is a primary concern. Businesses that operate in extreme temperature environments shouldn’t have to allot huge budgets to heat or cool those spaces where people are constantly coming and going.
That’s where revolving doors come in! They allow for heavy foot traffic but avoid losing all of the heat or air conditioning through doors that are left open for extended periods. We offer three systems (AutoFlow, MiniGrand, and Grand) that can be configured according to your needs.
Celebrate Automatic Door Day with Horton Automatics
Now that you know a bit more about automatic doors, where they came from, how they are used today, and the role that Horton Automatics has played in their development, it’s time to celebrate!
Automatic Door Day is on March 19, and we encourage you to use #AutomaticDoorDay when posting about automatic doors on social!
If you are responsible for the automatic doors in your building or facility, make sure you are going with the safest, most efficient, and best automatic doors in the industry. Contact Horton today to learn more about how our door solutions can solve the problems you’re experiencing in your facility.