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The current article on mortise locks includes: • discussion of what makes it a mortise lock

• international occurrence

• mechanism

• parts

• limited installation

• advantages over bored cylindrical lock

• common manufacturers

Proposed addition: history/significant changes to lock and contemporary use. Current article is very technical and focuses almost exclusively on contemporary context.

Sources: Cliver, E. Blaine. "Comment on a Mortise Lock." Bulletin of the Association for Preservation Technology 6, no. 2 (1974): 35-34. doi:10.2307/1493421.


 * the locks at Monticello had to be ordered from Paris. Similarly, mortise locks were used in primary rooms in 1819 at Decatur House in Washington, D.C. while rim locks were used on closets and other secondary spaces.

Self, Robert. "Restoration of Door Hardware at Monticello: Unlocking Some Mysteries." APT Bulletin 35, no. 2/3 (2004): 7-15. doi:10.2307/4126400.


 * used in American architecture at least as far back as 1805, when Thomas Jefferson sought 26 of them for Monticello. While closets received surface locks, principle rooms received mortise locks. These locks were usually warded locks, with the mechanism outside the door even when the bold was inside the door. Depictions of available mortise lock hardware, including not only lock mechanisms themselves but also escutcheon plates and door pulls, were widely available in the early nineteenth century in trade catalogues. However, the locks were still expensive and difficult to obtain at this time.

"The Evolution of Everyday Objects: the History of the Key." Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/design/2012/05/the_evolution_of_everyday_objects_the_key_the_book_the_phone_and_more_.html#slide_4


 * warded locks were used in Europe throughout the medieval period and up until early 19th century. Three British locksmiths, Robert Barron, Joseph Bramah, and Jeremiah Chubb, all played a role in creating modern lever tumbler locks. Chubb's lock was patented in 1818. The next major innovation to mortise lock mechanisms came in 1865. Linus Yale, Jr.'s pin tumbler mortise cylinder lock put not only the latch or bolt itself inside the door, but also the tumblers and the bolt mechanism. Pin tumbler locks are still the most common kind of mortise lock used today.

Schiffer, Herbert. Early Pennsylvania Hardware. Box E. Exton: Schiffer Publishing, Inc., 1966.


 * used in America starting in the second quarter of the eighteenth century. The earliest forms had pulls, but eventually these were replaced by knobs. Only used in the most formal rooms in expensive houses until mid-nineteenth century. Other rooms used box locks or rim locks, which have the latch mechanism on the exterior. Box locks were used in the United States since the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Hopefully, these sources will reveal something about the lock technology available in early American building and its subsequent development. I'm also hoping to figure out why the content of "mortise lock" is so different from the content of lock (security device).

Copied from "Mortise Lock"
A mortise lock (mortice lock in British English) is a lock that requires a pocket—the mortise—to be cut into the door or piece of furniture into which the lock is to be fitted. In most parts of the world, mortise locks are found on older buildings constructed before the advent of bored cylindrical locks, but they have recently become more common in commercial and upmarket residential construction in the United States. They are widely used in domestic properties of all ages in Europe.

History in United States
Mortise locks have been used as part of door hardware systems in America since the second quarter of the eighteenth century. In these early forms, the mortise lock mechanism was combined with a pull to open the unlocked door. Eventually, pulls were replaced by knobs.

Until the mid-nineteenth century, mortise locks were only used in the most formal rooms in the most expensive houses. Other rooms used box locks, or rim locks, in which, unlike in mortise locks, the latch itself is in a self-contained unit that is applied to the outside of the door. Rim locks have been used in the United States since the early eighteenth century.

An early example of the use of mortise locks in conjunction with rim locks in one house comes from Thomas Jefferson's Monticello. In 1805, Jefferson wrote to his joiner listing the locks he required for his home. While closets received rim locks, Jefferson ordered twenty-six mortise locks for use in the principle rooms. Depictions of available mortise lock hardware, including not only lock mechanisms themselves but also escutcheon plates and door pulls, were widely available in the early nineteenth century in trade catalogues. However, the locks were still expensive and difficult to obtain at this time. Jefferson ordered his locks from Paris. Similarly, mortise locks were used in primary rooms in 1819 at Decatur House in Washington, D.C. while rim locks were used in closets and other secondary spaces.

The mortise locks used at Monticello were warded locks. The name warded locks refers to the lock mechanism, while the name mortise lock refers to the bolt location. Warded locks contain a series of static obstructions, or wards, within the lock box; only a key with cutouts to match the obstructions will be able to turn freely in the lock and open the latch.

Warded locks were used in Europe throughout the medieval period and up until early 19th century. Three British locksmiths, Robert Barron, Joseph Bramah, and Jeremiah Chubb, all played a role in creating modern lever tumbler locks. Chubb's lock was patented in 1818. Again, the name refers to the lock mechanism, so a lock can be both a mortise lock and a lever tumbler lock. In the modern lever tumbler lock, the key moves a series of levers that allow the bolt to move in the door.

The next major innovation to mortise lock mechanisms came in 1865. Linus Yale, Jr.'s pin tumbler mortise cylinder lock put not only the latch or bolt itself inside the door, but also the tumblers and the bolt mechanism. Up to this point, the lock mechanism was always on the outside of the door regardless of the bolt location. This innovation allowed keys to be shorter as they no longer had to reach all the way through a door. Pin tumbler locks are still the most common kind of mortise lock used today.

Mechanism (Copied from "Mortise Lock")
Mortise locks may include a non-locking sprung latch operated by a door handle. Such a lock is termed a sash lock. A simpler form without a handle or latch is termed a 'dead lock'. Dead locks are commonly used as a secure backup to a sprung non-deadlocking latch, usually a pin tumbler rim lock.

Mortise locks have historically, and still commonly do, use lever locks as a mechanism. Older mortise locks may have used warded lock mechanisms. This has led to a popular confusion, as the term 'mortise lock' is usually used in reference to lever keys. In recent years the Euro cylinder lock has become common, using a pin tumbler lock in a mortise housing.

The parts included in the typical US mortise lock installation are the lock body (the part installed inside the mortise cut-out in the door); the lock trim (which may be selected from any number of designs of doorknobs, levers, handle sets and pulls); a strike plate, or a box keep, which lines the hole in the frame into which the bolt fits; and the keyed cylinder which operates the locking/unlocking function of the lock body. However, in the United Kingdom, and most other countries, mortise locks on dwellings do not use cylinders, but have lever mechanisms.