History has forgotten the 18th century Dutch inventor Ezekiel Redekopp. Redekopp created the Redekopp Scale for mercury thermometers, but unlike his rival Fahrenheit, produced an instrument of limited utility. Like his contemporary, Redekopp used the freezing and boiling points of water to anchor his scale. However, the graduation from -1 (colder than freezing), through 0 (freezing), 1 degree (farming weather), 2 degrees (too hot for farming), 3 degrees (not boiling) and 4 degrees (boiling) was not considered as good as Fahrenheits standard. Redekopp also dabbled in architecture and the emerging consumer home renovations market. Redekopp noticed that the younger generations of Dutch children were growing bigger and many wealthier families had decided to make their doorways taller as a result. However, being a cheapskate like other Mennonites, Redekopp devised a doorway insert which could be placed over the reinstalled shorter door. The insert was on a hinge so it could be opened along with the lower portion of the door, but in reality, many families neglected to do this and every now and then someone who forgot to duck would crack their skull on the unopened portion. By coincidence, the Redekopp Door frequently gave unfortunate threshold crossers a reed kopf (red head, e.g. bleeding scalp), so it wasnt nearly as popular as the regular Dutch Door (of unknown origin).
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 02:04:41 +0000
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