Door handle

Various examples of door handles throughout history

A door handle or doorknob is a handle used to open or close a door. They are found on all manner of door, including exterior and interior of residential and commercial buildings, on cabinets, and on vehicles. There are many designs, which vary by use, appearance, and preference. Many handles, particularly for commercial and residential doors, incorporate latching or locking mechanisms or are manufactured to fit standardised door locking or latching mechanisms, layouts, and millings.

The most common types of door handle are the lever and knob. Common materials include steel, brass, porcelain, cut glass, wood, and bronze.^[1] Door handles have been in existence for at least 5000 years, and their design has evolved since, with more advanced mechanism, types, and styles.

Handle appearance varies from plain, functional, and inexpensive to elaborate, costly, and even whimsical. Finishes vary by function and appearance, and include plating, embossing, stamping, and antiquing. Accessories include escutcheons as backing plates and decorative fasteners.

Door handles can be electrically activated, or arm- or foot-operated, to assist those with disabilities and reduce transmission of contagious illnesses.

Types

The most common form of door handle are the knob, lever, and pull.

Knob. Typically round, also multi-sided, occasionally square. Preponderantly metal, also made of wood, glass, and porcelain. Turning the knob (typically clockwise) rotates an internal spindle, which operates a mechanism topped by a retractable spring-loaded plunger-style "latch bolt" which engages the strikeplate securing the door.^[2] In its most basic form it has no lock. It may be keyed for an internal lock, mounted with an integral strike plate and separate keyed lock, or fitted with a simple "privacy" lock easily opened from the outside and commonly used in residential bathrooms and bedrooms.

Lever. The most common form of lever handle is the Lever latch or Latch door handle found in residential and commercial applications. It is mounted with or without an escutcheon or backplate, and operates with a simple downward quarter turn of the lever. In its most basic form it has no lock.

Lockable forms include those with a keyholed integral backing plate for operating a separate a mortice sash lock,

^[3] in which the handle still pivots and retracts its plunger but will not open the door when the lock is engaged, and various "privacy" models that engage simple integrated locks rather than separate locking mechanism. The latter are commonly used in bathooms, and may easily be unlocked from the outside with a probe or other simple device.^[4]

Pull. Variations of a simple U-shape, common in interiors of public spaces and in the kitchen but also used on drawers. Usually made of stainless steel.

History

Door handles have been in existence at least since the Neolithic period.^[5] Locking or latching mechanisms have existed from about the same time. Key operated door locks have existed at least since Egyptian civilisation. The keys of these locks, which could be as large as two feet long, also functioned as door handles to slide a locking bolt and open the door.^[6] Subsequently Roman domuses and insulae incorporated lockable doors of a different design but also opened by a combined handle/key.^[7] Although available, these key lockable doors were relatively rare. Houses were almost always occupied so most lockable doors would feature a sliding bolt or a drop-in bar that allowed the building to be locked from the inside. The bolt or bar bracket acted as a handle. Although interior doors were less common in Rome than in modern buildings, the Romans had recognisably modern interior doors including door handles.^[8] Doors excavated from Lake Nemi and dated to around 1st Century CE feature knob-shaped handles.^[9]

In Asia, China by the 4th Century CE was producing a range of automated doors, door locks and door bars.^[10]

There is little record of door handle development between the Fall of Rome and about 1000 CE. The oldest European doors include the Bernward Doors and the Westminster Abbey door.^[11] The Bernward doors have large decorative ring-shaped handles of a type that became common on decorated doors from that period onwards. The Westminster Abbey door features a sliding bolt that can also function as a handle. From at least the Middle ages blacksmiths made drop latches which could be opened by a handle connected to the latch by a split pin passing through the door.^[12] Taking the form of a ring or strip, these handles could be elaborate and decorated but were universally made of metal. It can be speculated that since the task of making door hardware fell to the blacksmith, the use of turned or carved wooden knobs was not convenient. Wooden latches are also known from this period. A finger hole could be made that allowed the user to raise the latch from the other side of the door. The finger hole would double as a grip or handle. In another common design, transferred motion to open the latch was effected by a string passing through the door, which could be withdrawn from the inside to effectively lock the door to outsiders.^[13] In this case the door might also have a basic handle carved or turned from wood.^[12]

From about mid-17th Century, drop handles were increasingly replaced by forged vertical handles formed as a bracket fixed to the door at the top and bottom of the bracket.^[14] Vertical handles with an incorporated latch mechanism, known as Suffolk latches were developed. By the mid-18th Century, forged vertical handles were being were being replaced by cast vertical handles, including the Norfolk latch.

The early 17th Century also saw metalworking of a standard that allowed mortise locks and latches and compact rim locks and latches to be made for use in the most expensive buildings.^[15] These locks used a twisting motion to operate, accelerating development in decorative doorknobs. The Industrial Revolution dramatically reduced the cost of lock and latch manufacture with lock designers including Barronin, Chubb and Bramah competing against each other around the end of the 18th century.^[16] From the 18th century, a wide variety of lever handles and knobs started to be produced, with designs determined by local aesthetic preference and technology.^[17] Knobs could be cast, turned, brazed or spun from a variety of materials. Levers could be wrought or cast. Designs became more complicated and might include a rose or escutcheon plate.

Until about 1830 door handle manufacture in the western world was almost entirely European. In 1838 the USA was importing between 80 and 95% of its door handles.^[18]^[19] Between 1830 and 1876, the date of the Centennial Exposition, door handle manufacture grew rapidly in the US; more than 100 patents were filed for door handle and doorknob improvements in that time.^[19]

From the early 20th Century architects and designers started to take serious interest in door handles as part of a comprehensive vision of spaces for living.^[17] In 1927 Wittgenstein famously designed a door handle which has become a prototype for curved tubular handles since then.^[20] Emerson wrote of handles in his "The American Scholar" address.^[21] Peter Behrens, Walter Gropius and Antoni Gaudi all produced handle designs, many of which continue to be manufactured.^[17]

While aesthetic design, cost of manufacture and functionality remain primary drivers of door handle design, the 21st Century has seen additional considerations introduced. In particular, considerations of infection control {see section below} and accessibility have become increasingly important since around 2000. The Coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a rapid development of new handle designs including foot-operated handles and handles that can be operated by the user's forearm.

Escutcheon plate

Escutcheon plates, also known as back plates, are used behind door handles, drawer pulls, surrounding keyholes and separate locks, and other similar purposes. These may be plain or fancy, embellished in any form, and serve variously to protect surrounding surfaces, conceal (and render tamperproof) important attachment fasteners, cover uneven rough openings, and add a decorative flourish.

The plate on the edge of a door (where a bolt or door plunger protrudes) is called the "faceplate";^[22] opposite on the jamb is the "latchplate", creating or reinforcing the hole receiving a latch, bolt, or plunger.

Usage

File:Locksmith-11211.jpg

Door handle with keyed lock

The location of the door handle along the horizontal axis on the door can vary between a few inches or centimeters away from the edge of the door to the exact center of the door, depending on local culture, decorative style, or owner preference. The distance from the edge of the door to the center of the handle is called the backset.

The location of the door handle along the vertical axis on the door may vary between 34 and 48 inches (860 and 1,220 mm).^[23]

Doorknobs can be difficult for the young and elderly to operate. For this reason, door handles in most American commercial and industrial buildings and in many households are lever-operated, rather than a knob, as the lever does not require a tight grip. Levers are also beneficial on doors with narrow stile widths where the reduced backset leaves insufficient space to comfortably turn a doorknob.

Most household door handles use a simple mechanism with a screw-style axle (called a spindle) that has at least one flat side, which is passed through the door jigger, leaving some length exposed on each side of the door to which the handles are attached. Some handles are attached on both sides by screwing or sliding them directly onto the spindle, and then securing one or more retaining screws (set screws) through the knob perpendicular to the flat of the spindle. Handles that lose traction can frequently be repaired by replacing or adjusting the set screw, which prevents them from slipping on the spindle. Other types of handles, typically used in Europe, slide onto the spindle but are affixed only to the door itself without use of set screws.

Types of household handles:

Entrance: These door handles are typically used on exterior doors, and include keyed cylinders.
Privacy: Typically used on bedrooms and bathrooms; while they are lockable (unlockable with a generic tool), they do not have keyed cylinders.
Passage: Also known as hall or closet, these do not lock and are used in hall or closet doors.
Dummy: These types are used for ball catch doors or other applications where a mechanism is not needed, but a similar aesthetic effect is desired.

Cars

Car door handles may protrude from the vehicle's exterior surface or be streamlined into the vehicle's contour (as in a Tesla, for example). In some automobiles, especially luxury vehicles, the door handles may feature a key-less entry pad utilizing either a numerical code, thumb scan or face recognition.

Foldables

On a balcony whose door has an outside shutter, a special door handle is used on the outer side. The protruding part of such handle (usually ring-shaped) can be folded sideways, so that the shutter can be fully closed without being obstructed by the door handle.

Pocket doors

A pocket door handle is a recessed rectangular insert, typically with operating hardware called a door pull.^[24]

Door handles can also be called "handle sets". In addition there are door handles that are flush-mount and require pressing rather than turning or gripping, and there are touch-free, electronic, and motion-sensor door handles.

Infection control

Door handles play a role in the spread of some infections.^[25] Infection transmission can occur when an individual touches a handle and subsequently touches their eyes, nose or mouth.^[26] However, some materials, e.g. brass, copper and silver, are slowly poisonous to many germs. The exact mechanism is not known, but is commonly thought to be via the oligodynamic effect, perhaps by some other electrostatic effect.^[27] Brass and copper, for example, disinfect themselves of many door handle bacteria within eight hours.^[28] Other materials such as glass, porcelain, stainless steel and aluminium do not have this effect.

To avoid hand contact, some door handles are designed to be operated by the arm or foot.^[29]^[30]

Gallery

Door latch at Madingley Hall, Cambridgeshire
Ornate door handle on a Moravian Church
A door handle in the center of a door in Paris
Head shaped doorknob, Florence
The doorknobs at Glen Eyrie castle in Colorado Springs
Traditional door handles in Korea
"Crash bar" handle installed on a glass exterior door
Lever-style door handle
Commercial duty lever door handle
Door handles designed by Ferdinand Kramer, 1925
A door handle in Theatro Circo, Braga, Portugal
Knob has crescent-shaped bar which pulls back latch bolt when turned. Version on upper right has a lock; version on upper left does not. Kwikset uses this shape. Other companies have square or D-shaped bars.
Exterior door handle of a 1998 Lincoln Town Car, featuring digital lock.
Exterior door handle of a 1996 Lancia Y, recessed into the B pillar
Chromed interior door panel of a 1998 Lincoln Town Car
Lightweight canvas strap interior door handle of a 2010 Porsche 911 GT3 RS