A door stopper prevents a door from closing. Our operation theaters have automatic door closers, which keep the doors closed when no one is passing through. It makes moving about inconvenient to theater personnel, who open a door fully and tie its handle with a string to something unyielding on or near the wall. This is a door stopper of sorts. It causes stretching of the spring in the door closer permanently after a while, so that it does not function ever again. They do not know what their actions do, and they don't care when they are told what their actions do. They want the door open and they get the door open and keep it open. Period.
On the other hand, we need door stoppers in the house so that the doors remain open and don't bang closed with strong winds, especially in the monsoon. We have wooden stoppers fitted to the door frames, which wedge in the angle between the frame and the open door. Unfortunately their hinges become loose and it is a hassle to get a carpenter to repair them - carpenters want to be hired for the whole day, not just for a small job. I wonder if any doctors do that to anyone, especially to carpenters - get hired for the whole day, not just for removal of an appendix in half an hour or a toenail in five minutes. Anyway, getting a carpenter not being an option, I had to fix a door stopper somehow. Initially I tried putting folded pieces of thick card between the door and the floor. It worked until the card-wedge got thinner due to continued use, or the maid servant swept it away into trash. Then I had an idea. I use a lot of ballpoint pens to write patients' notes, do office work etc. The pens are use-and-throw type. I saved a cap of one such pen, heated its open end over a gas flame, and compressed it with pliers. Thus it turned into a wedge. It stayed put between the door and the floor when wedged there. It did not get soggy when the maid servant cleaned and she was smart enough to know it was not trash, especially after we told her so. Now it functions as a good door stopper. The following picture shows it in a 3D form from two different angles (A and B).
I could make as many of them as the OT personnel want, but won't because I care for the automatic door closers in the OTs.
On the other hand, we need door stoppers in the house so that the doors remain open and don't bang closed with strong winds, especially in the monsoon. We have wooden stoppers fitted to the door frames, which wedge in the angle between the frame and the open door. Unfortunately their hinges become loose and it is a hassle to get a carpenter to repair them - carpenters want to be hired for the whole day, not just for a small job. I wonder if any doctors do that to anyone, especially to carpenters - get hired for the whole day, not just for removal of an appendix in half an hour or a toenail in five minutes. Anyway, getting a carpenter not being an option, I had to fix a door stopper somehow. Initially I tried putting folded pieces of thick card between the door and the floor. It worked until the card-wedge got thinner due to continued use, or the maid servant swept it away into trash. Then I had an idea. I use a lot of ballpoint pens to write patients' notes, do office work etc. The pens are use-and-throw type. I saved a cap of one such pen, heated its open end over a gas flame, and compressed it with pliers. Thus it turned into a wedge. It stayed put between the door and the floor when wedged there. It did not get soggy when the maid servant cleaned and she was smart enough to know it was not trash, especially after we told her so. Now it functions as a good door stopper. The following picture shows it in a 3D form from two different angles (A and B).
I could make as many of them as the OT personnel want, but won't because I care for the automatic door closers in the OTs.
