Ask Microsoft Copilot or do a search and also you’ll “uncover” the trendy doorknob was invented in 1878 by Osbourn Dorsey. But, I’ve lived in or been conversant in homes a lot older – going again many dozens of years prior, all of which had doorknobs.
The AI response continues… “Earlier than that, folks used handles or leather-based straps to open and shut doorways.” What? The e book Victorian and Edwardian Furnishings and Interiors: From the Gothic Artwork Revival to Artwork Nouveau mentions the German choice for handles, discovering the spherical English gadgets for opening doorways inferior. And certainly, such a dealt with gadget might be maneuvered at the same time as each fingers are occupied.
The response from AI appears to point the necessity to entry rooms by these with mobility points happened solely in Victorian occasions. “Curiously, Osbourn Dorsey’s invention coincided with the necessity for higher accessibility, as spherical doorknobs might be difficult for folks with restricted mobility.”
Possibly these Germans have a degree.
This story of the historical past of the doorknob is repeated on a number of {hardware} producer web sites. Which may be the place AI bought its data. One website reads “Ornamental door {hardware}, together with spherical knobs, had been launched on the Centennial Exposition of 1876.” No spherical knobs earlier than 1876? Attention-grabbing. It goes on to contradict itself “China and ceramic knobs had been imported from Europe and well-liked from the mid-1800s till the early 1900s.”
It’s clear Dorsey had a patent for a door gadget in 1878, however a newspaper archive search makes it simple to uncover the actual fact door knobs had existed lengthy earlier than. Maybe the mortise or sash lock dates to 1878, however the rim lock, which attaches to the skin of the door, existed lengthy earlier than and had pulls and different mechanisms earlier than they’d knobs to show. Some time again there was a “mortiser drill” gadget patented in 1912 for slicing into doorways on the market on eBay. They might have been reduce by hand earlier than that.
For certain, the door knob existed lengthy earlier than 1878. None of us can bear in mind again that far, however the proof exists round us.Right here’s an excellent useful resource on outdated doorways. https://old-doors.data/sashlocks.php?hwID=8
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