I once saw on antiques road show (the english one i think),a small cabinet with a pair of doors were when you opened the right hand door with the handle, the left hand door opened at the same time as if by magic. Has anyone else seen anything like this. Or better still, does anyone know how this opperates and how it is made.This has baffled me for at least a couple of years now.
john
Replies
I never saw such a cabinet, but have you ever been to Montecello, Thomas Jefferson's self-designed home in Virginia? The double front doors work that way. Jefferson designed them with gears under the floor on the pivot points and connected the gears with a figure 8 of chain. Pretty slick for a Virgina farmer!
Mike Hennessy
One way this can be done is to bevel both doors in the same direction.I'll try to explain this using a house door for an example. Normally with a regular house door you have a 1/8" to 3/16" bevel. With a double door opening the margin on the room side is a 1/4' to 3/8" larger than the hinge side. If both doors are beveled in the same direction the margin is the same on the front and back. If this is done ,only one door can be opened without opening the other door. The long point of the bevel hits the other door and pulls it open.
I have not done this on cabinets, but have done this on swinging doors when called for.
mike
Not a bad idea,but on the cabinet i saw the first door didn't push the other door open and both doors also closed together. Probably the idea of the gears underneeth a bottom panel is how it was done.Thanks for your interest.
If anyone else has any ideas keep them coming.
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