The World’s Heaviest Door
Our ancestors have wondered for many years until finding a natural shelter which came in the form of a cave for millions of years. This natural housing is described as a safe haven from enemies and other predators made up of natural walls that were missing something to make this protective structure complete. Doors have not only offered protection but also encapsulated the warm inside structures or homes. You may think that this technology is very old, but not as old as some like to think. The first recorded history of doors was found in Egyptian tomb paintings 4000 years ago. No one knows who invented the door, only that it was first incepted somewhere in central Egypt.
Some of the heaviest doors in modern history are found inside bank vaults protecting huge sums of cash and even valuable jewelry worth millions. Despite this, the heaviest door in the world is not found in a bank, but actually in a laboratory.
44 tons of steel protection
This photo from 1979 shows a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory employee opening the world’s heaviest hinged door, which was eight feet thick, nearly twelve feet wide, and weighed 97,000 pounds (44 Ton). A special bearing in the hinge allowed a single person to open or close the concrete-filled door, which was used to shield the Rotating Target Neutron Source-II (RTNS-II) — the world’s most intense source of continuous fusion neutrons. Scientists from around the world used it to study the properties of metals and other materials that could be used deep inside fusion power plants envisioned for the next century.
So, in 1979, this was the world’s heaviest door, weighing in at 97,000 pounds. I wonder if it still holds the record. Seen any big doors lately?
