Full-size barbershop poles

[JMaurer1]

After looking at DKSs pole (and I didn't want to post it there) but isn't the pole spinning the wrong was...? As I remember (back in the dark ages) they spun from bottom to top and not from top to bottom...Anyone?

[delamaize]

After looking at DKSs pole (and I didn't want to post it there) but isn't the pole spinning the wrong was...? As I remember (back in the dark ages) they spun from bottom to top and not from top to bottom...Anyone?

The few places I knew that had them, each spun a different direction....

[Dave V]

After looking at DKSs pole

 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

After looking at DKSs pole

More like 

[MK]

And to animate it!   

[peteski]

After looking at DKSs pole (and I didn't want to post it there) but isn't the pole spinning the wrong was...? As I remember (back in the dark ages) they spun from bottom to top and not from top to bottom...Anyone?

You know, ever since that thread I've been paying attention to that in various movies and TV series, and all the old shows where a spinning barber pole is visible in the background, it spins upwards (bottom to top). One such show is Andy Griffith Show. I  believe that I have seen this in other shows from that time period, like the Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Perry Mason and few others.  Also in some old black/white movies.  I didn't think it important enough to actually keep a record of all the shows where I saw the stripes spinning up, but I have definitely been noticing it.

I also noticed that the animation on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barber's_pole shows the stripes spinning up.

[DKS]

There's no set direction of rotation, although--

Some interpretations say that the red represents arterial blood, the blue represents venous blood and the white represents the bandages. Spinning barber poles are meant to move in a direction that makes the red (arterial blood) appear as if it were flowing downwards, as it does in the body.

From: https://www.razorsbarbershop.com/blog/2017/1/22/history-of-the-barber-pole

So, the Wiki animation could be considered "wrong."

The direction of the wrap, that is diagonally from bottom left to top right, is fairly consistent.

[peteski]

There's no set direction of rotation, although--

From: https://www.razorsbarbershop.com/blog/2017/1/22/history-of-the-barber-pole

I do remember you pointing to that blog in the original thread. Either way, it seems that from what I notice in the old shows is that the stripes spin upwards. Maybe all those movie props were all made by the same pole company which favored upwards stripe movement? 

[wazzou]

My preference is for the blood to flow up the pole.

[thomasjmdavis]

Some interpretations say that the red represents arterial blood, the blue represents venous blood and the white represents the bandages. Spinning barber poles are meant to move in a direction that makes the red (arterial blood) appear as if it were flowing downwards, as it does in the body.

Except that the arteries carry oxygenated blood outward from the heart- up to your head and down to your feet, assuming you are standing upright.  I know that the study of biology has changed a lot in the decades since I took the courses, but not so much as to make all arterial flow be unidirectional.  Barber pole legends notwithstanding.

[mmagliaro]

For what it's worth, I took a quick troll through YouTube ("spinning barber pole") and found 10 examples, all spinning counter clockwise, all spinning so the stripes move up... but I did find ONE that spun the other way.

[GaryHinshaw]

For anyone who wants to draw their own stripes, a la Max's post, and make them line up after one turn around the pole, there is a simple relation between the diameter of the pole, d, the height of the stripes, h, and the pitch angle, θ, of the stripes:

    tan θ = (4 ⨉ h)/(π ⨉ d) = 1.27 ⨉ h/d

For example, if you want the stripes to be at 45 degrees (tan θ = 1), and the diameter of the pole is d, then each stripe must have a vertical height of h = d / 1.27.

[Chris333]

simple

[thomasjmdavis]

Remember, if you are doing a retro layout, you must use a slide rule....

[Chris333]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/393246094115