I have been pondering the question of whether brownstone developers favored
the right or left side for their stoops (absent other considerations),
and then I realized I don't know if there is a "correct" (or even just
dominant) way to hinge an exterior door - so the knob meets the right hand, or
meets the left hand? Any takers on this?
Christopher
PS Also found this interesting, although distantly related, piece of
research, from 1969, below:
_lightbox_ (http://vads.ac.uk/lightbox.php)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/index.php)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/magazine.php?year=1969) (http://vads.ac.uk/diad/diadmagazine.php?title=241&year=1969)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=241&year=1969&article=d.241.34)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=241&year=1969&article=d.241.36)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/diad_help/help.html)
Home1969241171819
Title: Waiting for the air curtain: an ergonomic survey of door
handles and locks
Pages: 50 - 53
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=241&year=1969&article=d.241.35)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=241&year=1969&article=d.241.35)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=241&year=1969&article=d.241.35)
(http://vads.ac.uk/diad/article.php?title=241&year=1969&article=d.241.35)
Author: Alan Parkin
Text: Air curtains and foot-operated doors may eventually replace
conventional doors in public places, but that time is still far off. For privacy
and security there is as yet no substitute for locks. Recent ergonomic
research, discussed by Alan Parkin, suggests areas for change in current
equipment.
A study recently carried out at the University of Manchester by Beatrice
Yaffe* answers some questions about how people use doors, and throws doubt
on the adequacy of existing designs of handles and locks. "It is clear,"
writes Miss Yaffe, "that there is ample scope for redesigning door furniture.
The problem can be approached in two ways - it can be a complete redesign
considering door furniture as an integral part of the door, or the design of
handle lock and key can be considered as separate pieces of hardware
bought individually and fixed on a ready-made door." The first approach is
essential from the user's point of view, because Miss Yaffe discovered user
difficulties with every type of conventional door tested. The second approach
demands ergonomic research on handles which can be operated with parts of
the body other than hands, locks with indicators for direction of turn, etc.
and keys designed for the ways they are u sed rather than the way they are
thought to be used.
The study was made in two parts: door handles and then door locks. The
method was to observe, unnoticed, a total of over 400 people using doors of
different types in normal surroundings. The findings are of major interest to
industry as well as architects and interior designers.
The handles study examined six situations: double two-way swing doors in a
large store, made of glass, with pushplates standing an inch away from the
glass; double one-way swing doors in a smaller shop, made of glass, with
horizontal pushbands and one door bolted shut; double two-way swing doors in
a students' refectory with pushplates on a wood frame and glass panels;
two single doors in a students' building with lever handles, one having a
springloaded closing device; and a single door in a private house with a knob
handle.
The swing doors brought out some strong preferences in user behaviour.
Nearly everyone would rather push a door than pull it. This is to be expected
when faced with a pushplate; but many people tried to push the one-way
doors, even though the handle was clearly designed to be pulled. Most people
push a door with a plate on the right with their left hand, and a left-plate
door with their right hand. Miss Yaffe found that the preferred height for
pushing a door is about two inches below shoulder level.
People with prams, trolleys, or bundles of shopping had difficulty with
the swing doors. "Their methods were either to wait for some kind person
polite enough to hold the door open, or more commonly to use a part of the body
other than the hands to open the door. The most popular method was to push
with the side of the body and shoulders, walking forwards and following
the door round. This appeared to be very difficult with a pram, and most mums
had a special technique. They walked backwards, pulling the pram with
them, and pushed the door open by walking into it. The drawback was that the
doors closed on the side of the pram. Some mothers seemed to have this method
down to a fine art. They gave a sharp flick to the door with their thigh,
pulling the pram smartly through the door at the same time. (This
relatively sophisticated approach is fine on weekdays, but not so good in battling
Saturday crowds.)"
Twenty-five per cent of users tried to push the bolted door going in
-there was no indication that it was locked; but no-one tried to come out of the
bolted door - evidently they remembered their mistake on the way in. The
report points out that observations showed that there were particular
difficulties for old and disabled people using swing doors, and
[page 51]
One of the doors examined for the survey was a two-way swing door in a
large. From left: a tall person pushes the glass above the plate; a small girl
pushes the glass; the door handles awkwardly when pulled. Bottom, from
left: the method used by most users; difficulty for the heavily laden and the
disabled.
For those trying to pull open a one-way door with their hands full. The
results for one-way lever-handled doors show a clear pattern of preferred
door control. Either hand was used to operate the handle then push, or pull,
the door open. The same hand was then moved to grip the edge of the door a
little above handle height, to check the swing, and dropped as the person
passed through the door. Either hand was then used to pull, or push, the
door closed and fasten it, without turning round. "If the person was in a
hurry, he appeared to 'throng' the door between his two hands, using the finger
tips - or he pulled the door shut as he walked away (which often failed to
close the door properly)."
In using a lever handle, "the fingertips touched first, and were then slid
forward until the base of the fingers and the finger tips were in position
on the handle. The palm of the hand did not appear to be used." In using a
knob handle, there was preference for turning the knob away from the body
right hand clockwise, left hand anti-clockwise. Difficulties with
lever-handled doors arose when people had to open or close them with their hands
full. Knob handles were impossible to open. To push doors shut with full
hands, the favoured methods were the elbow swing, the shoulder swing, and the
kick. Pulling doors shut without hands was the most difficult of all.
"Methods used were catching the elbow or forearm on the lever handle and pulling
(the elbow tended to slip off the shiny lever handle), or catching the edge
of the door with the foot and trying to pull it shut without catching the
foot in the door."
The report found that, people opening lever handles used in conjunction
with a door-closing device "were quick and
[page 52]
[caption]
The drawing shows the pattern of preferred coo. control discovered by the
survey. Either hand is used to operate the handle, then push the door open.
The same hand is then moved to grip the edge of the door a little above
handle height, to check the swing, and dropped as the person passes through.
Either hand is then used to pull the door closed and fasten it, without
turning round.
[text]
ingenious in using other parts of the body to operate the lever. Forearms
and elbows were used by various women. There was a particular difficulty in
that the door had to be kept open for the length of time needed to get
out. A good backwards kick appeared to work, or an extra strong pull backwards
just gave the girl time to squeeze out. Some people were able to wedge
their elbows in between the frame and the door, and give a good shove. There
was no full control over the door movement, so it was liable to knock the
user."
Handles are related to one function of a door, allowing passage; the other
function of a door, preventing passage, is normally mediated by a lock.
The second part of the study examined four types of lock end key: three-lever
mortice lock on interior door with keyhole below lever handle at right of
door; as before, but with keyhole at left of door; five-lever mortice lock
on interior door with keyhole beside handle; and cylinder lock on front
door of house.
The mortice locks provoked considerable confusion as to which way to turn
a key:the away-from-the-body preference found in turning a knob seemed to
be more important than thinking which way the bolt might move. Two locks had
keys which turned some way before biting, and this led to much more
confusion and slower learning about the correct turning direction than the key
which bit immediately. After practice with the difficult locks, five subjects
"were still not able to unlock the door immediately." The
[captions]
The lock on this door is positioned awkwardly high for the user; a
cylinder lock needs very careful placing if the hand is to be balanced when
turning the key. The upper picture shows pressure on the finger when turning a
cylinder lock key, which is then used as a handle.
[text]
keyholes below the handles were moredifficult to locate then the one
beside the handle.
With the cylinder front door lock, all subjects used the key as a handle
to push open the door. "Pulling the key out of the lock was often difficult
without using one hand to hold the door steady. This led two of the
subjects to carry the parcels into the house, leaving the key in the lock, then
come back to take it out. It is possible to forget the key is in the lock,
and shut the door leaving the key on the outside. This is particularly likely
if two people enterusing one key."
The findings are summed up as a set of design requirements. Future
developments may provide a solution that makes doors redundant. If doors are
necessary, then they should if possible push open both ways, and not swing shut
on prams or slow-moving people. Among Miss Yaffe's recommendations are
that pushplate tops should be five feet above floor level; that bolted and
pull swing doors should have clear indication of how they are to be used; and
that one-way lever-handled doors should be easy to use with either hand or
without hands.
Miss Yaffe also suggests that locks should have indicators showing which
way the key turns, and whether it is locked or not. Movements should have
immediate bite, and keyholes be easily visible. Keys for cylinder locks
should be so designed that they are also suitable for use as handles and are
comfortable for use as such. In addition they should be easy to remove from
the lock.
This study shows what can be done by intelligent application of modest
resources. Certainly it raises as many questions as it answers, and this is
part of its value. One begins to wonder why so many double doors are kept
bolted on one side: do shop and office owners, for instance - or architects go
for grandiose entrances which are not in fact needed ? And whether it's
really necessary for so many two-way swing doors to be labelled PUSH on one
side and PULL on the other: the report found that the majority of people
push whatever the label says, without creating havoc. Could lessons for door
handles be learned from hospital taps, designed to be operated with the
elbows or wrists ? What would a cylinder lock key-handle be like: what would a
bunch of them be like?
It would be useful now to have economic comparisons of the different types
of doors and fittings, related to their ergonomic aspects. It would be
interesting to see the same line of inquiry carried over into quite different
types of door - rotating, sliding, remote-operated, air-curtain - and into
other areas of design. Design can never afford to base itself on what
people are supposed to do: they often don't.
[footnote]
*The Functional and Ergonomic Requirements of Door Furniture, by Beatrice
Yaffe, post-graduate course in industrial design technology, University of
Manchester Institute of Science and Technology.
[caption]
This mortice lock is placed so that the user has to peer under the handle
to insert the key. Her left hand obscures her right as she turns the key.
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