Antique mechanical contraptions have long intrigued me, and the Daisy Automatic Weather Strip for Doors does not disappoint!  Discovered by Jim while recently exploring a long-vacant farmhouse, the device is still in operating condition after 101 years!

A deteriorated – but surprisingly intact – paper label states that it was manufactured by the Matthias-Wagner Co. of Cedar Falls, Iowa, a company I could find nothing about after an admittedly short internet search.  It was first patented in 1900, and again in 1901, but installed in a house built in 1917.

A metal flap, or weatherstrip, folds up when the door is opened and down when the door is closed.  The following photos show it in various stages of operation.  Has anyone else ever encountered a similar weatherstrip?

 

The flap is raised when the door is open – revealing the manufacturer’s paper label. The label likely survived because of its location on a screened porch.  A pin seen at left activates the mechanism.

 

Closing the door prompts the flap to lower itself.

 

The door is closed and the flap is down. I’m having trouble understanding how much (if any) protection from wind this would provide. Perhaps it was intended to drop further, or was never properly installed.

 

Detail of label. Instructions at left include how to reverse the position of the pin for installation on a door hinged on the other side.

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