The immediate question in readers’ minds is what ‘Hall of Fame’. Even to those who have spent most of their lives in the North East very few can point to any of the inventions that have made this glorious region of Great Britain a renowned centre for invention defined as something that has never been made before.
What can these be? The development of the lifeboat, the steam locomotive, the electric safety lamp for coal mines, the hydraulic crane, the power grid and hydroelectricity. Looking at the last invention, a day out at Rothbury’s Cragside estate will reinforce how hydroelectricity was used by William Armstrong in 1880 to power incandescent bulbs.
Combined, these inventions place the North East as a leader in innovation, not stopping at the initial concept stage but complete product development.
This leads me to the high speed door. This is another example of fresh thinking. Clearly industry needs buildings and ways into and out of them. “I had just that industrial building where the principal activity of manufacture of roller shutters was carried out,” explains Douglas Hart, chairman of Hart Door Systems. “I noticed on several occasions the doors into the factory were left open, even on a chilly winter’s day. Clearly energy costs must have been increased as heated air was effectively blown away. There was just one solution - a door which opened/closed automatically.
“The trusty roller shutter worked extremely well but it was slow, better left open in some people’s minds. I had to come up with a solution which I did after consideration and initial product development,” says Mr Hart. Welcome to the world of the high-speed door, in the case of Hart, Speedor, now a recognised global brand made by Hart Door Systems in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Hart’s Speedor is designed to open and close rapidly to control temperature, airflow, hygiene, and traffic flow in commercial and industrial buildings.
Speedors are widely used in warehouses, factories, cleanrooms, and logistics sites for example. However this Newcastle gem is in use across the globe in 36 countries, a remarkable success story of an industrial door now promoted as several sub-brands such as Mini, Storm, Smart and Cleanroom.
As an extremely busy company Hart Door Systems has several other brands such as its Firebrand range of fire shutters, Terror Screen security and roller shutters and Typhoon, tropical storm shutters. It’s success can be measured by the fact that Hart has thousands of doors and shutters in action in 36 countries.
WWW. HART DOORS.COM
