Homemade Screen-Door Check
Air-Cushion Check Made of a Bicycle Foot Pump for a Screen Door
An outside screen door causes considerable annoyance by slamming when exposed to the wind, even if it is equipped with a bumper. Nothing short of a door check will prevent this slamming, so I made a very simple pneumatic check for our door, which works entirely satisfactorily.
A discarded bicycle foot pump was procured and hinged to the casing over the door, as shown in the illustration. The hinge was made as follows: Two holes, A, were drilled through the stirrup, as near the foot plate as possible; two ordinary screw eyes were turned into the door casing at B, and two pins were passed through the holes in the screw eyes and the holes in the stirrup. This allows the pump to swing when the door is opened. The end of the plunger rod C is flattened and a hole drilled through it to receive the pin at the top of the bracket D, which is screwed firmly to the door.
The action of the pump when the door is opened can be readily understood. The check is adjusted very easily by the machine screw E, which controls the exhaust of the air when the door closes. The screw is turned into the hole in the base of the pump where the pipe was originally connected. One side of the end of the screw is slightly flattened to allow a better adjustment. The pump can be quickly removed by pulling out the upper pin in the hinge part.—Contributed by M. C. Woodward, San Diego, California.