Page 2 - Herrajes Patricios - Catalogo LCN

General
information

History of door
closers & LCN

Trinity Church… Growing Pains…
In 1876, Mr. L. C. Norton was sent to Soon after the doors at the Trinity Church were under control,
Boston, Massachusetts to help build the Mr. Norton formed a company to manufacture his new found
Boston Trinity Church. The church took invention. The factory was located in Boston, Massachusetts and
over four years to complete. The church business started out strong. In fact, at times, there were more
was located on the Back Bay facing south orders than production could match.
and west thus at times, encountering some
very severe wind conditions. The church Time flew by. Mr. Norton’s company began to experience difficulty.
began operation in 1880, the pastor, Rev. Brooks Competition was fierce. Some competitors began to infringe on
and his congregation quickly found out that the strong winds patents, which drained Mr. Norton of both cash flow and other
would make the doors close with a thunderous bang. Needless to resources. Mr. Norton also made a few business decisions that
say, the pastor was not going to stand for all the noise; those doors would hamper company growth. The early years presented other
needed to be controlled! This prompted Mr. Norton to action.
challenges too. New closer designs were being introduced at an
increasingly fast pace. This quick growth brought about some
Mr. Norton’s first attempt to remedy the situation was to hang challenging quality issues. Business associates both good and bad,
the doors on double-spring hinges. Mr. Norton had now uncovered came and went. The factory moved to Brooklyn, New York and
a second problem. The slamming stopped but now the strong then back to Boston, Massachusetts. In these years, the door closer
winds made the doors stand open. The cold, drafting air raised business was a volatile one. Most good companies were forced into
protest amongst the people in the church. He tried rubber stops, change whether they liked it or not. The door closer industry was
special door linings, and some other ideas. Nothing worked. One no exception.
day, continuing to ponder the problem with the doors at the Trinity
Church, he put some things away in a closet and being in a hurry, New Beginnings…
he threw the door shut. To his amazement, the door did not slam. Competition drove Mr.
Instead, the door bounced back. He tried this over and over with Norton in a new direction.
the same result. An idea came to him; he rushed to town and His air check had worked
purchased a beer pump. With the beer pump, a makeshift arm, well but was slowly giving
and some special brackets he had designed, Mr. Norton installed way to new technology.
his invention on one of the exterior church doors. He opened the In 1900, Mr. Norton
door and let it go…CRASH! The door slammed so hard it broke the developed a liquid door
pump into many pieces.
check. This new liquid
door check controlled
Mr. Norton spent many months trying to solve the problem; the door through the
finally, he used the principles of the lever, improved the main entire door swing by incorporating three independent hydraulic
components, and decided to reposition the device on the door. regulations. Back-check, general speed, and latch speed were
He took his updated version and again installed it on one of necessary for total door control. In 1908, the company was moved
the troublesome church doors. Rev. Brooks saw Mr. Norton’s to Chicago, Illinois. By the early 1920’s, the door closer business was
new design and to his delight, the closer worked perfectly. Mr. doing well but Mr. Norton was wearing down, he needed help.
Norton had used air pressure to make the doors close quietly. The
problems with the doors at the Boston Trinity Church were now
solved.

A2 LCN Door Control Catalog
phone: 877-671-7011 n fax: 800-248-1460 n www.allegion.com/us n 009426 rev. 11/16