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December 28, 2007
Installations

When traveling in the US (and UK), I find that certain installations in hotel rooms and private homes should be continentalized.

  • Rotatory switches on floor and bedside lamps – too flimsy and often ramshackly.
  • Double hung sash windows – the maximum opening is only half of the total window size.
  • Door knobs – impracticle when you carry something (and often also quite rickety.)

As McClatchy reports, the last item is changing:

The compelling argument for door levers is a practical one: When you’re struggling with too many bags or with arthritis, the lever’s easy-release mechanism sparks a little gratitude. Heck, an elbow works when your hands are full. Knobs, on the other hand, provoke no emotion other than frustration.

[L]evers now account for 15 percent of U.S. door-opener sales for homes, according to hardware industry surveys, and double that in the market’s high end.

There is of course no technical reason to price levers higher than doorknobs. They need just as much material and manufacturing process.

Posted by b on December 28, 2007 at 16:46 UTC | Permalink
Comments

Priced higher because…
1) More metal, especially brass; every bit of any brass product is VERY expensive.
2) Higher side load and so better assembly structure required.
3) Newly popular, like hula hoop or skateboard.
4) Fancier.

Posted by: rapt | Dec 28 2007 18:13 utc | 1

When I was in the Army back in the 60’s, the other dumb provincial hick soldiers had a saying about being dicharged:
“I’m going back to the Land of the Big PX and Round Doorknobs.”
The idea that the Unified State of Arrogance was one big Post Exchange was rather revealing — every American Military colony, I mean base, has all the facilities you have back home. A base that doesn’t have burger and pizza bars and stuff is known as a “hardship” post.
(I didn’t go back, btw, I took my discharge in Europe and moved to Denmark)

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Dec 29 2007 7:42 utc | 2

When I was in the Army back in the 60’s, the other dumb provincial hick soldiers had a saying about being dicharged:
“I’m going back to the Land of the Big PX and Round Doorknobs.”
The idea that the Unified State of Arrogance was one big Post Exchange was rather revealing — every American Military colony, I mean base, has all the facilities you have back home. A base that doesn’t have burger and pizza bars and stuff is known as a “hardship” post.
(I didn’t go back, btw, I took my discharge in Europe and moved to Denmark)

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Dec 29 2007 10:43 utc | 3

sorry about the double post, it was typepad, not me, honest!

Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Dec 29 2007 10:44 utc | 4

I like levers better too, but in addition to what rapt said, I think that round doorknobs are easier to make. The ones in my house were made by a sheet metal process, while the levers I’ve seen looked cast or forged.
America is way ahead of Europe in metals conservation in doorknobs. 🙂 Plus our flimsy doors use less wood than the solid Teutonic ones. I shed a solitary tear for the trees that might have been, taken from their homes in Eastern Europe or Africa in a classic neocolonial eco-screwing. Tsk tsk. obviously I kid. What we lack in solidity we make up for in quantity.

Posted by: boxcar mike | Dec 29 2007 15:47 utc | 5

For what it’s worth, the lever-style handles are much easier to open for cats; I assume other pets too!
I did recently notice much stronger doors in northern Europe. The lock and handle mechanism require a milled-out rectangle in the side of the door to hold the latch assembly. This is typical in older (1930 — ?) American doors too.
Current North American-style ones typically require only a hole drilled through the door for the handles, and another hole drilled from the side of the door for the latch.
I also notice that in the UK the round doorknob is in the middle of the door! How does that work? Aesthetic, but what kind of engineering to control the latch 18 inches away?

Posted by: jonku | Dec 30 2007 9:31 utc | 6

I really think that there is much work to do on the “user interface” for electrical devices.
Here in north america our power is 110/120 volts, not deadly like the 220/240 volts in Europe. The Euro-nations have special plugs that isolate the hand from the plug, nicely done.
As for switches, they are an after-market addition to the built-in plugs and switches in the home. As such they allow control of lamps and other devices plugged in to the power outlet.
There are national and international standards for these, although many people overload the sockets with extension cords and power bars.
I’m in an area with frequent power outages and have developed a system (?) of extension cords from the gasoline-powered generator for those times. Mostly it powers the refrigerator and freezer and gives power to the electric kettle and microwave oven.
There are a number of solutions to connect the house circuits to the generator, I am investigating them for cost and usefulness.
The next step for those who generate their own power is to sell it back to the grid, in my area this is possible but I’m told that it isn’t cost-effective for a small producer.
That being said there is great satisfaction in being able to burn your own wood to heat the house and generate your own power to run the electric appliances.
That touches on the concept of CO2 pollution from burning, not to mention the cost of fuel.
Are there any MoA’ers that generate power via wind or hydro?

Posted by: jonku | Dec 31 2007 8:42 utc | 7

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