1937 Doors w/ Glass Door Knob Mystery... some knobs never stay on

[Daniel9913]

Hello,

Our home was built in '37, and we have the old mortise-glass door knobs with the spindles on every door in the house.

We have a very quirky issue in that some of these doorknobs never stay on. Even after purchasing brand new knobs on these doors, the new knobs constantly falls off. This is the case on two bedroom doors and the door leading to the backyard. The kind of knob seems irrelevant and I've tried many ones, and they eventually just loosen and fall off.

However, I have multiple doors in the house that are very high traffic with either old or new door knobs that never fall off (our bathroom never has a problem, and we have 6 kids with one bathroom). My wife and I's bedroom never falls off. My daughter's room never falls off. Sunroom knobs never fall off.

Is there something happening that these doors, even after replacing them, cannot seem to have the door knobs stay on? Are they somehow stripped on the inside that causes us to have to turn the knobs too hard, breaking the seal of the tightened screw?

I can't seem to replace the actual hardware on these doors, as the hardware seems built into the door.

Again it does not seem to be a door knob problem, as I can switch our door knobs and they just fall off regardless.

I'd like the keep the old doors as they are solid and pretty and retain the home's charm, but the game of "find a door knob to open a door" is getting old!

Any ideas or counsel here? Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

[Snoonyb]

Welcome.
Those that I'm familiar with, used the obverse knob as a spring latch retainer, and I haven't repaired them in years, so I'll need to do some digging.

 

[Snoonyb]

What I've found is not the depth of products I'm used too, so I would suggest that you employ a set of knobs, with a threaded rod, as well as set screws, which are drilled for a more positive stop, and some lock-tite.

 

[bud16415]

Welcome to the forum.



I have those old knobs and the square threaded shafts all thru my home as well. The set screws normally have a screw driver slot and are often worn also. The threads on the square shaft have worn and the set screws don’t stay tight. On some I have bought new Allen head sets with cone points that bite into the square shaft, I have also bought dog point screws and put some bluing on the shaft so the screw would leave a mark and then drilled the shaft to make a seat for the screw to lock in.

Nothing quite like living in the 1880s.