Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-12-11
DssDls NNGRS.
EnteEc>sin2 GHd Seyei Things tsa: ar,
Expert Ein'!s to Nay About a'ie,,s
From the New York Sun.


From the New York Sun.
There is hardly any object that everybody
handles so frequently. finds so necessary and
Yet thinks 50 little about. as the door knob
The time when they. it were. glue them
selves on to attention aui compel earnest con-
sidcraton is when they phil of their spindle -
or at least Come OFF 50 easily that it seems rs
III they did it themselves -and III hurried
attempts to lam them a-ain the spindle is
accidentally punched through the lock out of
reach. and a coHsider;:te. sympathetic wife
looking on says. How stupid" or. stin more
exasperatin@ly. what are YOU goin.s to do
now But so l0n- as the door knob stick, in
place it is inOffensvc, never lodges oilt OF the
way as keyholes sometimes will. never barks
ones Sims like rocking chair never how!s
when touched. as betstc.IS are wont to. is in
brief unobtrusiye. handy and like most simply
useful things, is likely to be little Thought OF
But there is good deal to be said about
door knobs. gentleman who has all his
life kept up an intimate business acqu lint
ance with door knobs said recently concerning
Them
All the door-knobs in England formerly were
made of wood or cast iron-bir. solid heavy
things-and Tor time the American ones were
try. where tastc and inventive art are active in
the combination of the useful and the beautiful
for every IN life. We soon commenced to
make our own GcOr-knobs upon the old English
plans at first. but ere long with other materials
ana with an eye To Improvement i'm form ana
color. beginning progressive course of improve
ment that already puts us in this specially as in
many others. ahead of the world in the pr0duc-
ton of goods that are at once beautiful dUra-
ole and cheap enough to be popular. Ii was
about 1872 or 1913 that the manufacture of
d0Or-knObS from clay was commenced in this
country CLAWS that would change their
colors in baking Were selected and mixed
together. after being very finely ground pressed
into m0uds. baked to what is technically
known as biscuit. then coated with a fuslbe
compound called glaze and reEaked at suf-
hcIent heat to melt the glaze AID 1--WE them n
CLASSY surface. They had dark NOTED ap-
pearance. were known mineral door knobs
AMI sold for as high as sis dozen nairs Tlay
still have place in the market. but they arr,
worth now only eighty cents dozen pairs
the cheapest made. Door knobs by the way
are always sold in pairs. and If should speak
Of dozen you will understand that / mean a
dozen pairs Porcelain door knObs-wiite
Ones-ca.ne next They are made of porcelain
eisiy. 10 which ground bone is added. baked and
Treated like those already spoken Of and are
only Mite more expensive. Thirty Years ago
The 'Ag1ilo' knob came out. 1t was a very
pretty thing, OF bright. contrasting cOlorS com
pounded OF clay. sand. fc,:Spar. sick red lead.
and some other metallic substances that do
not now remember You may occasionally come
across them yet in some exceptionally
fine old building out west but they are very
scarce. Indeed. very few of them were ever
made There was too much uncertainty about
them for successful manufacture. 1t was
never possible To tell i'm advance how they
would come out of the kiln / knew one gentle
man who burned very large Kiln full of them
and when they came out there was only one
perfect knob in the whole lot. 1t was exceed
NnlrIv hand -!,;Ix
exactly the same way. Were black rough and
valueieSs- Holding up the perfect one he re-
marked mat knob has cost 81 600 and straight
way gave up the business. the next step i'm
this line of manufactures was in the pro-
duetion in what was known as lava knobs
They were mainly composed of sawduSt and
gue-the same materials that the Old-fashioned
daguerreOtype cases were made Of-and were
OF beautiful DARK -brOwn color, often very
charmingly moulded. The hemacte knobs
made of sawdust and blood. and a little Boston
BACK bay mud thrown in. they say i'm the
trade. were very much like the lava kind. Both
are pretty durable under favorable conditions,
and are worth a to IS Dozen
st"The greatest stride i'm the progress of door
knob manufacture was taken i'm 1878 or 1874 by
Metallic compression Casting Company. The
material employed is bronze. mainly composed
OF nine parts of copper and one OF tin The
mOulds prepared for it are made with such ex-
treme nicely and fidelity to their pattern that
they reproduce lines delicate As the yeininps
OF tiny leafet. and the molten metal is forced
into them by screw pressure while they are on
Closed in ayacuum box. The articles made i'm
this way are known ~ compression bronze
goods. and variety of claims to superiority
over other bronze goods are made for them the
principal of which. as far as the pubc is con-
cerned. is their beauty Some of them are
plated with nickel and gold. nickel and silver
or silver and gold in various combinations
The most expensive are those with combined
decorations of enamel and gold which mount
IananaSn fonc
Etruscal novelties. bas relief Cupids animals
heads III altO-reiievO. esthetic things with sun
flowers and lilies on them. and non esthetic
eneS with much prettier flowers monoorams
and seals, and thousands of other ornamental
tIons on forms That are round. square hexa-
gOn. fat. convex. concave. oval and the makers
ONLY know what all else. are very plenty.
pretty novelty lately introduced is the
highly polished. sometimes fire Gilt r.looth
brass door knob in the shape of an egg Mon
o2rams and seals are put on to order. and they
make the knobs cost only little more merely
the expense of changing the center of a pat
tern. which Is nothing on any large contract
Some clubs and insurance companies have their
knobs thus ornamented. The Treasury seal is
cast on ali the door knobs Of the Treasury build
Ing i'm Washington and on those Of the most
office buildings of New York and Boston. The
War and Navy departments at Washington also
have their knobs ornamented with their re-
spective seals. But the. most beautiful door
knobs in Washington In the East Room of
seven or eight years ago. under Architect Null
lets supervision. new knobs were provided for
the doors. window fastenings. and shutters
all exQuisitey enameled The dominant color in
the enameing is blue. and harmonZes well with
the other adorEments of the apartment.
Not great while a@o.a rich banker in Port
hand. Oregon. sent all the way here to New
York for tie door knobs for a magnificent man
sion he building He wanted dozens of
knobs but the highest number of any one kind
of the same size was three. In each room how
ever. the design selected for 1t was carried
through large and small sizes. wherever knob
was used. He also had the taste to select the
three shades of bronze in which fine knobs are
made, so as to harmonic with the prevailing
hue OF the woods or decorations of the apart
Eaents tor which they were severally designed.
''Ia some old European castles and palaces
ore sees door knobs of silver. and silver inaid
with gold, but such things are rarely II ever
made row. never in this country"
The minister of finance Of Mexico states that
eertain bonds offered i'm New York known as