Lock, Door

Object Name:

Lock, Door

Object ID:

1960.061 a-b

Description:

Door lock set. Brass and steel, mounted on wooden block. Came from house between Epsom and Deerfield, NH. Cast steel box with brass handle on front that controls sliding door latch. This box seems to be five different pieces joined together. Four bolt/screw holes near corners of box to fasten it to door at jam edge. Plate on left-hand edge that extends backwards has two holes in it for additional fastening to door edge. Four small dimples on front surface that are ends of machine screws that hold some interior brackets for mounting locking mechanism. Beveled latch bar is 1.3" high, 0.8" deep. It extends 0.5" beyond edge of box. Inside box, latch bar is ~6.8" long. Inside box, latch bar is plate with right-angled piece at end that slides against inside of case. Two-piece spring mechanism that keeps latch bar extended from case. Key hole on front of lock that extends inside and through interior plate; this has rounded top hole with slightly tapering slot with slightly rounded bottom edge. Portions of lock mechanism on inside of box behind a mounting plate. Mounting plate has beveled edges on left, top, and right sides that extend to a point ~0.3" from corners. Beveled surface quite even and square at its ends. Two vertical tabs near mounting screws on plate that extend slightly above surface of plate. Three quarter-inch square ribs that mirror each other on top and bottom inside surfaces of box; they extend from back surface to front inside surface of front plate of box. Small, rectangular tab that extends from front surface of plate and is a stop for latch bar spring mechanism. Pivot pin head that is part of spring mechanism that has peened over head on inside of box. A larger spring leaf is fastened to inside surface of box and it bears down on pivoting shaft. End of pivoting shaft, in turn, pushes on end of latch bar. Flattened, spherical brass knob on inside that is hollow and sits on a shaft with pinched neck at center. It flares at bottom and rides on square, steel column that penetrates front surface of box and slides back and forth in slot on box surface. Rectangular brass, flat plate covers slot and slides with handle. Plate has slightly curved ends and gentle curves on sides. Edges of sliding plate beveled and rounded. Handle held in place by flathead, slotted nut that once was flush with front surface of handle. Wear and use of mechanism has caused edge of handle to expand and therefore locking nut passes through surface of handle. Key mechanism probably pulls back latch bar from outside. B. Iron escutcheon plate. Heart-shaped center section with keyhole near bottom edge. Above heart is short stem that leads to horizontal, rectangular section. Three holes for fastening plate to door; one below keyhole and other two in right and left corners of top, horizontal section. Iron fastening plates in shape of exaggerated capital E. Central horizontal section expands slightly toward open side. Top and bottom sections have angled interior edges. These have five mounting holes in them to fasten to door. Each piece has two additional pair of holes that correspond with mounting holes on front plate of box lock. Therefore, there was some type of fastener that passed through these mounting plates through mounting holes on front surface of lock box to hold it in place. A couple of top holes have circular pattern around them, ? from washer. These mounting brackets have slight hammered, roughened surface. Surface of heart-shape section is fairly smooth. Mounting brackets appear to have some stove blacking finish on them.

Material:

Brass
Steel
Wood

Dimensions:

H-5 W-8.7 D-4 inches

Credit Line:

Gift of Eaton Clapp