The Norton Door Closer 1601 has been around for the past 40 years. With the advent of aluminum framed glass doors, Norton was one of the first manufactures to come up with a narrow stile door closer. Since they did not have competition in this field for a few years, they built up a huge lead. It is still one of the most popular door closer models out there.

The Norton Door Closer 1601 is constructed of cast aluminum alloy. It features a 1-3/8″ diameter piston, and 5/8″ diameter pinion journals. The cylinder measures 9-3/4″ long by 1-3/4″ wide with a 2-3/4″ projection.

The Norton Door Closer 1601 shown in Dark Bronze

The Norton Door Closer 1601 is a Grade 1 closer (exceeds 10 million cycles) and has adjustable closing, latching, and back check speeds. The models we ship also have a multi sized spring. One for exterior doors and one for ADA and interior doors. The hole spacing is 3/4” x 9-1/16”. The reason you see the 3/4″ x 9-1/16″ hole spacing so often is because of the original Norton design. Everyone who manufactures door closers offer this hole spacing.

A cut away view of the Norton Door Closer 1601

The Norton Door Closer 1601 has adjustments for closing speed, latching speed and back check, and optional delayed action. Closing speed is the amount of time it takes the door to go from 75 degrees of opening to the last 15 degrees. Latching speed covers the last 15 degrees of closing, so the door does not slam into the frame and create that crashing noise. Back Check controls the amount of resistant the closer offers if it is caught in a strong exterior wind, or the dreaded flying kung-fu kick. Delayed action the the ability of the door closer to delay the closing process when the door is opened past 80 degrees.

Norton Door Closer 1601 valve controls

The Norton Door Closer 1601 also has an adjustable spring tension. This is accomplished through a jack screw on the end of the cylinder. We have two versions of the Norton Door Closer 1601, one is the 1601 and the other is the 1601BF. The 1601, which is the most popular, has an adjust for a size 3 to size 6 spring. The 1601BF is adjustable from size 1 to size 4.

In the old days before Multi Sized closers you had to have different closers for different sized doors and applications. The most popular was the size 4, which was for a 36″ exterior door. The Norton Door Closer 1601 will work on large interior doors, and most of your exterior doors. The 1601BF is for use on interior doors, and is adjustable all the way down to a size 1, which is what you would use for ADA applications. The size 1 can be turned down to 5 pounds of resistance.

The Norton Door Closer 1601 is non handed, and will work on the push, pull or top jamb mounting positions. Non Handed means it will work on the left or right swing door. It can be mounted on the push side of the door, also known as parallel arm mounting. Regular arm mounting is when the closer is mounted on the door, on the pull side of the door. The arm sticks straight out when it is mounted this way. The third way is called parallel arm mounting. In this configuration, the closer is mounted on the door, on the push side. When the door is closed the arm is parallel to the door.

This picture shows the Norton door closer 1601 in the top jamb position

Image shows the regular arm mounting of the Norton Door Closer 1601

Image shows the Parallel Arm mounting of the Norton door closer 1601

If you have an existing door closer with a sticker that says 149A Listed Door Closer, you could have a Norton Door Closer 1601. But you could also have any of the other models of Norton or Yale Door Closers. Another interesting piece of information. Yale and Norton Door Closers are the same, but have different model numbers. So the Norton Door Closer 1601 is the same as the Yale Door Closer 51. The Norton Door Closer 9300 was the same as the Yale Door Closer 2300, ect… In the Norton factory they have two production lines. One line produces Norton Door Closers, the other produces the Yale Door Closers. This is good to know when you need a Yale replacement quickly. More companies stock the Norton product line, so chances are you can always find a replacement quickly.

The replacement arm for the Norton Door Closer 1601

Some of the older Norton Door Closer 1601 may be stamped with Scoville or Eaton, which are the companies that used to own Norton. Norton is currently owned by Assa Abloy. The newer 1601’s have 0251-4020 or 1621-04020 on the back of the cylinder. We also sometimes find 20-1624-4001, or 20-1604-4001 stamped on the back of the closer. If your door closer is stamped 20-1603-4001 or 20-1623-4001, you might want to double check the hole spacing. The 20-1603-4001 usually has a hole spacing of 3/4″ x 8-3/16″, you could use the International Door Closer 853 as a replacement.

The Norton Door Closer 1601 is one the most popular door closers manufactured today. It is a durable, heavy duty door closer that will be around for another 40 years.