Well water pumps often have hand levers.
A manual lever is a large switch designed to manually turn a system on or off. Manual levers are found on a variety of motor vehicles and other large machines. Levers convert work done manually into changing settings within the mechanism. Many metal hand levers have a plastic covered section at the end to make handling easier. Some manual levers require the compression of a release button or a lot of force to move from one position to another.
Variations of the manual lever can be found in both manual and motorized equipment. A brake lever is usually located on the center console between the driver and passenger of many cars with manual and automatic transmissions. The brake lever is pulled up to activate the emergency brake and pulled down again to deactivate it. Food presses and well water pumps often feature manual levers that must be operated continuously to operate the system. Built-in tension springs can sometimes make it easier to return a hand lever to the home or off position.
Levers are simple machines in themselves. The hand force applied to the lever becomes the fulcrum or base of the lever. The converted fulcrum force is used to make changes to an internal load, which is typically a switch or gear. Internal lubrication may be necessary when a manual lever becomes difficult to reposition. Forcing a manual lever beyond its reach can cause it to bend or break.
Well-designed hand levers take into account the position of the user’s body and their average strength. A manual lever is only useful when it can be accessed and pulled. The location, length, and comfort of a manual lever grip make a noticeable difference in its ease of use. Pulling the manual levers from an awkward position can put unnecessary pressure on a person and the lever. Moving machinery to a better angle or adding a soft grip to hand levers prevents accidents and injuries.
Adjustable hand levers can allow the user to lock the system in various positions. Manual levers may be the only user input on a large machine. Each new position that the lever moves changes the operation of the machine. Some manual levers lock one operation at a time to prevent accidental changes in the middle of the program. After the operation is complete, the lever locks automatically or can be unlocked manually.