Trapdoor

File:StateLibQld 1 148179 Omega (ship).jpg, the last square-rigged sailing cargo ship]]

Originally, trapdoors were sack traps in mills, and allowed the sacks to pass up through the mill while naturally falling back to a closed position.

Many buildings with flat roofs have hatches that provide access to the roof. On ships, hatches—usually not flush, and never called trapdoors—provide access to the deck. Cargo ships, including bulk carriers, have large hatches for access to the holds.

Most 19th- and early 20th-century gallows featured a trapdoor, usually with two flaps. The condemned was placed at the join. The edge of a trapdoor furthest from the hinge accelerates faster than gravity, so that the condemned does not hit the flaps but falls freely.

In 1784, the reusable economy coffin was mandated by Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The coffins had a trapdoor in their base. The coffin would be lowered into the grave and a lever operated that opened the trapdoor, allowing the body to fall to the bottom of the grave.{{cite book |last1=Classen |first1=Albrecht |title=Death in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times: The Material and Spiritual Conditions of the Culture of Death |date=11 April 2016 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG |isbn=978-3-11-043697-6 |page=512 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s3P9CwAAQBAJ |language=en}}{{cite web |last1=Winkler |first1=Anita |title=Wiederverwertung bis zum Tod |url=https://www.habsburger.net/de/kapitel/wiederverwertung-bis-zum-tod |website=Die Welt der Habsburger |publisher=Schönbrunn Group of museums |access-date=15 July 2021}}

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| image1 = Amtrak Downeaster conductor standing in Amfleet car doorway.jpg

| caption1 = Amtrak conductors standing in the doorways of Amfleet cars with their trapdoors in the closed (above) and open (below) positions

| alt1 = An Amtrak conductor standing in the doorway of an Amfleet cars with its trapdoor in the closed position

| image2 = Amtrak conductor stands in train door as westbound Cardinal departs Staunton.jpg

| alt2 = An Amtrak conductor standing in the doorway of an Amfleet cars with its trapdoor in the open position

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The term trapdoor also refers to a plate in the entry vestibule of a passenger railcar that permits access to high-level platforms when lying flat against the floor of the car, and which can be flipped open to expose steps for accessing ground-level platforms. Many American commuter railroads which operate the Comet railcars made by Bombardier have trapdoors to accommodate passengers boarding and alighting on both high-level and ground-level platforms. Amtrak's Viewliner, Amfleet, and Horizon railcar fleets all have trapdoors.

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Trapdoor spiders hide in an underground nest they line with their silk, and then conceal it with a hinged silk lid, the trapdoor.{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trapdoor%20spider|title=Trap-door Spider - Definition of trap-door spider by Merriam-Webster|work=merriam-webster.com}}

File:Drury Lane Star trap VA.jpg, London, Now at the Victoria and Albert Museum]]

In theatrical use, "star traps" allowed explosively fast appearances on stage, such as jinn appearing in a puff of smoke.

Trapdoors are occasionally used as hidden doors in fiction, as entrances to secret passageways, dungeons, or to secret tunnels. They also appear as literal traps into which a hapless pedestrian may fall if they happen to step on one. Different types of doors or other objects are also sometimes used as hidden doors.

A trapdoor figures prominently in a late scene of the 1963 film Charade.

• Trap (disambiguation)
• Angstloch
• Trapdoor function
• Patio

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{{Commons category-inline|Trapdoors}}

Category:Doors

Category:Parts of a theatre