A new door for the elephant in the room
Story by
March 15, 2018
P C Henderson’s Straight Sliding 307 door hardware has been specified for the main access door to an elephant house at Skandavale Monastery in Carmarthen, Wales.
Valli, a three tonne Sri Lankan elephant resides in the elephant house. The elephant house features a large sliding access door, which Valli opens herself. After just five years the original sliding door (not manufactured by P C Henderson) was unable to cope with the force in which Valli used her trunk and head to open the door and so the track collapsed, meaning a replacement was needed.
P C Henderson was chosen to specify a track which would be robust and hard-wearing enough to cope with Valli’s strength. The Straight Sliding 307 system was specified.
Brother Stephan, commented: “Prior to the new home being built, Valli lived in a different elephant house which utilised P C Henderson’s sliding door hardware for the main access door. This lasted the full lifetime of the home, approximately 15 years, despite the huge scale of force being subjected by Valli. When the hardware on the new home started to bend after just 5 years, there was no doubt that we would go back to using P C Henderson.”
