America 250 Candidate: Automatic Sliding Door
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AUTOMATION HISTORY · AMERICA 250 · REPLACEMENT CANDIDATE
Automatic Sliding Door
American milestone: mid-1950s; commercialized 1960 · Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt · Corpus Christi, Texas
Status: Replacement candidate. Final number pending chronology audit.
Why it belongs in America 250
Dee Horton and Lew Hewitt developed an automatic sliding entrance after encountering problems with conventional swing doors in strong Texas winds. Horton Automatics began commercializing the American sliding-door system in 1960.
Connection to automation
Automatic doors combine presence or pressure sensing, powered actuation and safety controls to perform a routine physical task only when conditions call for it.