Invention of Garage Door

The upward-acting garage door was invented by C. G. Johnson in 1921. He didn’t just wake up to get convinced that manufacturing doors for garages was the next business idea to latch onto. He did because he saw a need for it. But before seeing what necessitated the invention of overhead garage doors used all over the world today. 

Here are some things to know about cars and their housing.

Housing Cars in those Days

As the car got introduced into society, there is a need for a place to store it. During that time, outbuildings especially those used for keeping horses and buggies were used to secure cars. Soon, the very few people who had cars at the time could no longer withstand their cars smelling of horse manure. Here comes a need to find an alternative structure that can house a car. That quest led to the building of communal parking garages. Car owners were charged a fee to store up their vehicles in these large and often public-owned garages.

With time, auto-owners began looking for a convenient place, somewhere closer to home, to keep their cars. The carriage houses that were first used in keeping their horses were then modeled to create similar structures that could house cars. Of course, these garage buildings have doors. Garage doors of that time were really just basic sheds. Because they were opened so frequently, the doors suffered heavy wear and tear. Besides, in the event of snow on the ground, the doors were practically inoperable until the snow gets shoveled.

Introducing Modern Garage Doors

In 1921, C.G. Johnson, who founded Overhead Door Corporation, built the first upward acting garage door. This door is lifted upward and folds parallel to the garage ceiling.  Though some other garage doors were used before the invention of the upward acting ones, the upward acting (or overhead) door he invented – took a lot less space than its predecessors did.

He partnered with attorney Forest Mckee of Hartford City, Indiana, to start producing the doors in Detroit, on a 1,000-sq.ft. production plant, though on a very low scale.

In 1923, a local enthusiast who was impressed by the garage door offered Johnson a factory site. Johnson accepted the offer, and in 1924, the factory relocated to Hartford City on a 200,000 sq. ft. manufacturing plant that allows for mass production of the upward-acting garage doors.

In 1926, Johnson also built the electric garage door opener that helps lift the heavy wooden doors. Soon, Herbert Cady Blodgett and Johnson formed the Door Control Company in Hartford City, Indiana, and later adopt the name, Overhead Door Company of Hartford City. Now almost 100 years later, Overhead Door Corporation is one of the leaders in the business of manufacturing and servicing garage doors. By continuing the innovative legacy Johnson set forth, it’s safe to conclude that the Overhead Door brand will have more innovations to unveil in the near future.

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