Discover the Forgotten Genius of This Simple Household Invention
August 28, 2024
Source: Reddit
It is rather calming to hear the almost silent sound of a door closing, so that it isn’t banging shut, or left hanging open in an uncontrolled manner. For most of you reading this, I am sure there is an image in your head of the old garden gate that used to creak open or the screen door that closed with a click. In those days, you might not have given much thought to what made those doors close so perfectly, but behind many of them was a simple yet ingenious device: The other model that is suitable to recommend is the KANT-SLAM Gate/Door Closer.
It was in my grandmother’s house that I was raised; each item in the house had a story, a reason for being there like the walls of the house itself. The front gate that opened into her neatly planted compound always amazed me in a way that no matter how much I struggled to open it, it will gently close on its own at the latch. As a child I would often wonder that there must be some force that was holding the gate from falling down or that it will not open and shut abruptly. Of course, the magic was simply a KANT-SLAM Gate Closer that worked in the background without disturbing anyone.
The KANT-SLAM Gate/Door Closer became popular during the period when the focus was given on the usability and reliability of the products used in home and garden. Before the use of modern day pneumatic door closers, the KANT-SLAM was one of the best products in the market. Its metal springs and other parts were made of heavy-duty materials and very well crafted to ensure that it will have a smooth and steady closing to any gate or door which it was fitted to. This was very true for the heavy wooden gates and doors that were in use in the houses which were constructed during the late 19th and early 20th century.
The KANT-SLAM closer wasn’t just stopping noise; it was about the door and its frame, and how to stop the door from wearing down over time. These devices were usually incorporated in homes and other structures, to ensure that doors closed well, for instance, to offer privacy or to secure areas without producing the ‘thud’ which was common with simpler devices.
On many aspects, the KANT-SLAM is an incarnation of the ideas of the period it belongs to. It has to do with an era when workmanship was valued and even common things were made beautifully and to stand the test of time. The KANT-SLAM came at a time when society was becoming industrialised yet people still wanted things that were made by hand. It was that it merged the trust in mechanical efficiency with the age old virtue of silence and tidiness of the home.
For many people these closers also evoke images of a different era, of life moving at a slower pace. There is something to be said about the image of a gate slowly closing behind you as you step into a garden or the door quietly shutting as you come in from the snow. It may not be much, and it may not be significant, but it was something that happened time and again in people’s homes—each time a subtle, yet comforting reassurance of the unobtrusive systems that helped to make life easier.
In the age of the automated world the KANT-SLAM may appear to be something from the past. But there is a moral to its methodical unobtrusiveness. At a point in time when so many things are being made with the aim of being thrown away and replaced the KANT-SLAM remains a classic example of beauty in durability. It was a device which did a single function and did it with so much ease and effectiveness for years and years.
To the people who get happiness and satisfaction from such minutiae of life such as the sound of a door shutting perfectly, the KANT-SLAM is not just a gadget. It’s a connection to a time that even the most mundane of objects deserved time and effort to be made. And maybe, in today’s world which is such a whirlwind of change, there is still a place for such simple, steady magic.
When looking back we should remember that not everything has to be big, noisy or quick to be significant. Sometimes, it is the things that are not said and not missed that makes the life a bit easier. The KANT-SLAM Gate/Door Closer which is a seemingly simple product that resides unobtrusively in its role, is an excellent example. It is a tiny fragment of history that tells us the importance of the good and the pleasure of using a perfect product, which just work, and work perfectly, click by click.