Trapdoor
A trap door is a door embedded in a horizontal plane, for example a ceiling or floor , which serves as access to a corridor or a room . Trap doors are often used as space-saving access to cellars or attics , whereby a mechanism can trigger the integrated staircase in the form of a ladder in the case of doors embedded in the ceiling . Trap doors can also serve as secret doors.
- During executions on the gallows , the executioner operated a lever which opened a trapdoor via a mechanism. The delinquent was led through the trapdoor floor in free fall (long drop) until the noose fatally injured the cervical spine, causing a quick death. Wrong execution (too short a rope led to a shortened fall) instead of the quick break of the neck a painful suffocation took place.
- The door that falls vertically down in an animal cage is also referred to as a trap door . It is either triggered involuntarily by the animal when it is to be caught ( animal trap ), or by a person by releasing a locking device (transport cage).
- Doors are also referred to as trap doors in the sense of a trap , which suddenly open downwards by means of a folding mechanism when entering them carelessly, causing the person entering to fall . Especially in the Middle Ages, castle owners tried to protect certain rooms from unwelcome visitors and thieves with trap doors of this type.
- In vehicles, especially on ships, trap doors are called hatches .
- A trapdoor on a theater stage is called sinking in technical terms .
- During the Vietnam War , the Viet Cong built numerous tunnel systems that could be entered and exited through camouflaged trap doors. These are now a tourist attraction (see pictures).
See also
- Fear hole
- Folding door (folding door)
Web links
Commons : trapdoor - collection of images, videos and audio files
Individual evidence
- ↑ Picture of a trap door opened downwards (a delinquent was especially here Tom Horn , source )