Some Cruise Ship Doors and Hardware

I took a cruise in the winter.  Always good to escape my climate in February!  Since I had not been on a big ship before, I spent an afternoon photographing the hardware as seen in the public spaces.  I was even lucky enough to speak with the ship's locksmith for a short time.  [I am deliberately not saying the name of the ship and should you recognize it, I ask you not to say the name in the comments.]

At various places to provide noise or wind separation, were sets of push/pull doors like this with the most amazing glass knobs on both sides.  These did not latch so had no fire rating but created a weather vestibule on the other side along with the door below.

The outer door was the primary weather seal.  These were immense wood door pairs with double seals along the inside as you see.  The hinges were already showing the signs of rust and this ship was only a few years old.  Since I have not lived on the sea, I was shocked how fast the salt would start corrosion. 

The closing hardware on this door shown.  European profile with an oval cylinder.  I have had these apart a FEW times.  At first I was surprised by the lock function as it seemed it would only need to be passage.  Why would you want to lock people out on the deck?  I was told it was for emergencies if the ship needs to isolate a deck or section to keep guests out.  

This is an interior fire isolation door sitting in a wall recess.  I spoke after my photo tour to another passenger who had never noticed these doors and pairs of them were in about 8 locations on every public deck.  I was not surprised as the general public really does not see life safety hardware.   These doors were in pairs and this is the active leaf so it must close last and open first.  The inactive leave is out of frame to the right and it has automatic flush bolts once closed and it controls an overhead coordinator which is just removed from the ceiling.  I never measured but the hall was 8 feet high or a bit more.  The ship was finished in Europe so might be better to guess at 250 cm. (I photographed the fire rating label.  Or what I thought was the fire rating.  Lacking Italian, I can not be sure and not clear time was given on it as near as I could tell.)

This square at the bottom corner puzzled me for days.  A slight push with my toe and it would hinge back until hitting the wall of the recess.  I finally found a staff member to ask and it is for a fire fighting hose.  As soon as I was told that it was obvious.  Similar to prisons, you can not really evacuate the whole structure. Fires have to be fought from adjoining sections and containment is needed to stop the spread.

Well, all for now.  I am trying a new editor on Blogger and formatting of pictures is not happening smoothly and yet the text is doing better.  This post looks good to me, but if it does not to you, feel free to toss me a message with perhaps a screen shot.  Thanks.