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Atrapdoor orhatch is a sliding or hinged door that is flush with the surface of a floor, ceiling, or roof.[1] It is traditionally small in size.[2] It was invented to facilitate the hoisting of grain up through mills, however, its list of uses has grown over time.[3] The trapdoor has played a pivotal function in the operation of thegallows,cargo ships,trains,[4]booby traps,[5] and more recently theatre and films.[6][7]
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Originally, trapdoors were sack traps in mills, and allowed the sacks to pass up through the mill while naturally falling back to a closed position.[3]
Many buildings with flatroofs have hatches that provide access to the roof. Onships, hatches—usually not flush, and never called trapdoors—provide access to thedeck.Cargo ships, includingbulk carriers, have large hatches for access to theholds.
Most 19th- and early 20th-centurygallows featured a trapdoor, usually with two flaps. The condemned was placed at the join. The edge of a trapdoor furthest from the hinge accelerates faster than gravity, so that the condemned does not hit the flaps but falls freely.
In 1784, the reusableeconomy coffin was mandated byJoseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The coffins had a trapdoor in their base. The coffin would be lowered into the grave and a lever operated that opened the trapdoor, allowing the body to fall to the bottom of the grave.[8][9]
The term trapdoor also refers to a plate in the entry vestibule of apassenger railcar that permits access tohigh-level platforms when lying flat against the floor of the car, and which can be flipped open to expose steps for accessing ground-level platforms. Many American commuter railroads which operate theComet railcars made byBombardier have trapdoors to accommodate passengers boarding and alighting on both high-level and ground-level platforms.Amtrak'sViewliner,Amfleet, andHorizon railcar fleets all have trapdoors.
Trapdoor spiders hide in an underground nest they line with their silk, and then conceal it with a hinged silk lid, the trapdoor.[10]
In theatrical use, "star traps" allowed explosively fast appearances on stage, such asjinn appearing in a puff of smoke.[6]
Trapdoors are occasionally used ashidden doors in fiction, as entrances tosecret passageways,dungeons, or to secrettunnels. They also appear as literal traps into which a hapless pedestrian may fall if they happen to step on one. Different types of doors or other objects are also sometimes used as hidden doors.
A trapdoor figures prominently in a late scene of the 1963 filmCharade.
A set of triangular sprung flaps in the stage floor through which an actor can be propelled from a lift below stage.
Media related toTrapdoors at Wikimedia Commons
