I don't know but I have seen square rods with a slightly smaller end on each
end, so this sort of thing has to have happened before. I had the opposite
issue on the kitchen do, ie the old knobs, made of something resembling
bakerlite fitted but the new plates with captive handles meant I needed to
saw down the spindle but then I found they were sloppy as the holes war too
big. I'm afraid I did what every good bodger would. Cut some shims of
plastic and used them to pack out the spaces on two sides., its still OK
after 20 years.
OK won't help you, but it reminded me. No I'm not taking the olive green
handle sets off to look either.
Brian

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The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

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"Murmansk" wrote in message
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I was asked to replace all the door handles in someone's 1970s bungalow.

They had nasty brass lever handles and had bought a load of stainless
steel lever handles from BQ.

I discovered that the square metal shafts linking the handles of the new
ones were a tiny bit bigger than the square holes in the tubular latches
on the doors and had to replace all the latches too. The shafts fitted the
new latches perfectly.

Were latches made with smaller holes in the 70s - is this some kind of
imperial V metric thing?