> ...as a side note, I was wrong, door handles were invented first. It's because the mechanism is easer and relies on gravity, instead of a mechanism doing it f

> ...as a side note, I was wrong, door handles were invented first. It's because the mechanism is easer and relies on gravity, instead of a mechanism doing it for you. I was about to comment on this, having grown up in a house with latches that relied upon gravity to do their work. I currently live in a home which has handles on most of the doors, including the exterior doors. It's actually problematic for us because activating the handle also unlocks the deadbolt from the inside. Our dog has figured out how to open the handles, but he can't work a door knob. We rely upon a baby gate to keep him upstairs and away from the exterior door he can operate. He could easily jump the gate if he so desired (he's done it a few times without thinking while chasing one of our cats).