PickingPaul Mortice Lock Manual V1 Identification of Lever locks in the UK 2012PickingPaul Mortice lock Manual Identification of Lever locks in the UK, There are well over 100 different mortice locks that are in wooden doors around the United Kindom. This figure can feel very daunting to a new locksmith and almost overwhelming, However many of the locks are so similar they only vary by colour. This manual has been made by myself with photographs of my own locks which i have been collecting for a year and a half. Jynx,Waddac2, markd Safelocks and Bill telford have all contributed photos of locks used also in this manual. If you have a lock not in this manual and you want to contribute a photo of it please do. Thave brought many of the locks but the vast majority I have found in old discarded wooden doors inskips! Whenever i see a skip I stop and check if there is a door, if there is I ask the owners of the property if they mind if L have the old locks, this is good practice as sometimes this means they will produce a working key! For free you are getting a lock which was probably purchased locally, there fore there is likely to be more about. Window shops that also fit new UPVC and composit doors will often provide a service where they take away the old door, this will end up on their main grounds and placed in a skip. If you ask the owners nicely you will get a regualr supply of free locks for as long as the business is going. [love mortice locks and I'm facinated at the variety that have been produced over the years and the good news is more are still being made. But with the domination and popularity of the UPVC door they are surely in decline and some are endangered species, so many could be saved and used for educational purposes instead of at the bottom of a landfill. When i first decided I wanted to become a locksmith I would have loved a manual like this and that is why L made it, for everyone who wants to be a locksmith or simply has a love for locks. Lhope you find it usefull and please note that i do not claim it to be perfect and minor errors may be found. My lock collection grows every week and version two of this manual will be made in the future. Thank you for reading and as my friend waddac2 says ‘happy picking and please keep it legal!” PickingPaul‘What is a Mortice Lock? ‘Most locks come is deadbolt and a sashlock option DY SGT Deals Strickly speaking a mortice lock (also mortise lock outside of the UK) is a lock that requires a pocket (the mortice) to be cut into the door or piece of furniture into which the lock is to be fitted. A cylinder can operate the locking mechanism, This manual is dealing with mortice locks that are operated by Levers. Illustrated above is a Chubb 3G114, the levers | are directly above the Curtain as shown. The bolt is behind the levers and the bolt stomp — is currently is the left side of the levers as it is in the locked. position. This is a ‘Deadbolt’ and no handle can be attached into this lock. To the right is a Legge lock which has a latch at the top which is used with a handle, a spindle slides through the square hole, a lock with a handle like this is called a ‘Sash lock.’If you are serious about lockpicking as a profession as a Locksmith you will need several basic things in order to make use of this manual. You will need the drill card provided to mark where you need to drill a hole. Secondly you will need a drill and appropriate drill heads obtained from locksmith tool suppliers. If you do not have a drill card then one can be made using the drill points clearly written throughout this manual, Gauge keys are a great way to help identify a mortice lever lock. Tuse the 7 keys below. IT From Left to Right wibb Detainer, 5 Gauge Union. 5.5 Gauge Legge. 6 Gauge Imperial. 7 Gauge ERA. 8 Gauge Basta. 9 Gauge Belguard You will also need a metal wire or an engineering scriber or anything strong and thin for lifting the levers once a hole has been drilled. ‘The gauge keys are then used to turn the curtain and throw the bolt across. ———— Se Ladvice you study this manual and see how I have grouped locks together based around the drill points that they all share. Alll drill point have been measured from the central tip of the keyways and not from anywhere else.Drill Point 1. Only 1 Lock uses this drill point. Easi-t Eurospec. Zimm Vertical 12mm to bolt. 5 Gauge. 5 Lever, Gray colour case, silver curtain. Hard Plate bowed over thekeyway. Looks different on the lever side and bolt side. Bolt Side Side Drill Point 2. Imperial speckled Locks 22mm Vertical [9mm to Bolt. 6 Gauge locks. 5 levers. Speckled silver/gray, green. No Hard Plate Clean Bolt side A silver/geay speckled Imperial very rusty example showing a lable to the left There is also a speckled Green Imperial which can be identified by using the 6 gauge ey. Its always possible on old locks that they will be so rusty like the example above that a colour simple can not be determined. Drill Point 3 Old Security Solutions. 21mm Vertical 16mm to Bolt. This is a dead bolt and 5 Gauge, one very is 9 gauge, avery thin rusty. Keyway Here is two greenDrill Point 4. ERA Drill Point 20mm vertical [smm towards the bolt ‘The ERA range that use this lever pack are numerous. They use various colours and use have used different hard plates in their evolution. ‘They come is 2 different gauges, 5 & 7 All the locks below are ERA locks ard all have a lever pack the same as shown to the right, some may have spacers between levers. {| | Above are the British Standard ERA locks. From left to right, we have first a golden nippled 7 gauge ERA invincible, then a golden nippled 5 gauge ERA profit. Next an old nippleless ERA fortress § gauge next to a old nippled ERA Fortres with a 7 gauge note all 4 of these locks have a hard plate visible above the keyway, The last two locks are old ERA invincibles with distinctive oval shaped hard plates around the keyway. ‘These are the none british standard ERA locks. The first silver/gray lock is a nippled 7 gauge ERA Viscount next to the nippleless brown old version. ‘The remaining 3 locks are all 7 gauge too in various shades of brown, they are known as the ERA Endurance locks, To the left is the Henderson British standad 5 lever lock. To the right is first shown in the open position & t second in the locked position. The} lever pack moves across with the bolt iM Tt is 5 Gauge, black and with an oval hard plate.Drill Paint 5. New ERA Fortress 20mm vertical 12mm towards the Bolt ‘The locks to the right are the blue ICL 6 lever and the New ERA Fortress. As you can see this ERA lock is diferent from those on the previous page, ‘The lever pack is different putting the bolt stomp closer to the curtain slightly. Several other locks use these type of levers. Interesting to note the warding on the ICL curtain making it hard to fit some curtain picks. ICL6 ERA ERA Fortress 2 Lever. Fortress Classicjsecluded Valen warded Glossy Curtain, can Seon curtain red also be in a Bae at top apple brown colour Note: The red locks have a hard plate above the keyway. ICL bows over the keyway. Drill Point 6 The Union 2234E, which. is pictured to the right. It is to the Union 2134 except the lever pack is a little bit bigger and the hard plate looks different. p note: The hard plates ¢ are tight around the keyway and extend 2mm past the bottom bu do not join, leaving an open eat the Union Chubb Yale Union boltside “7 CPP PEM 2234 SUE 560 note the curve at the bottom.Drill Hole 6A. 21mm vertical 8 mm towards the bolt Use Drill hole 6 but measure 2mm higher when marking the hole ‘To the right is a security solution lever pack these locks are 5.5 gauge and come in various colours, shown below are the keyways. They are none british standard locks and have no hard plates from the left is a black . security solutions, a blue ) s security solutions. A black Firth and blue security bs solutions and a red security solutions To the loft is a Merchant 5 lever curtained lock, it is $ gauge and has a very distictive fanned keyway, there is another lock which. has a fanned keyway like this, the red Avocet, which comes in a couple of shades of red ineluding a maroon one. This is a none curtain 7 gauge 5 lever Aldridge 2 im 1 pick can work on this lock. Drill point 7 20mm vertical 6mm towards the bolt ‘This is a Chubb drill point for two locks To the right is the 7 lever golden coloured 3G 107, Below is its keyway image next to the 3GLIE, these locks have a lever pack which hangs over the curtain These locks can be confused with the more common 3G 14 and 3G115. Look at theline running through the middle of the curtain on these| locksDrill Point & Lislock 19mm vertical 5 mm towards bolt 5 gauge, 5 lever none curtain, warded Drill Point 9 18mm Vertical This covers the H lever locks. Legge’s Assec, Gibbons. Assec Legge Gibbons Ingersoll Assec Assec Legge legge legge legge legge legge Yale ingersoll BS noneBS noneBS BS BS BS BS F> removable ‘This yale to the left could be confused with the Hard plateS yale 560, but the hard plate only extends 1mm below the keyway, whereas the yale 560 is 2mm. ; To the left are two similar locks in colour and lever pack as illustrated in the above image. Far left is the Aldridge and next is the Gibbons. BS 5 lever locks. 5 Left is the Erebus am 5 lever none curtain, which is warded, as you can » see the bolt is visible, stoey Harper P BeardmoreDrill Point 10 15mm Vertical 4mm Away from Bolt To the Right is the Chubb 3U115 It has no hard plate and the locks that use this lever pack are all. none british standard locks. Alllocks are 5 Gauge Curtained lacks Above from Left: The first two are the golden/brown Chubb 3U115 which do come in at least two different shades as illustrated. Next the gray Yale 550 with a thin raised trim around keyway. Next is an old red yale which could be confused with the last more common lock pictured, the Union 2201, which has a smoother glossy case. None Curtained below From Left: 3 Lever Union 2177 sash lock/2277dead bolt (very common). 3 Lever Blue Yale. Gray 5 lever Yale, this lock also comes in shades of apple green. The ‘Maroon 5" lever security solution/lislock. The last three locks are 6 gauge locks. Speckled brown warded Gauardians, showing a very rusty example. The last lock is a 5 lever Imperial, it has a slightly speckled light brown ease.) “cme ) Drill Point 11 ! Cw! 12mm Vertical ‘ 3mm Away from Bolt Legge P1645. 5.5 Gauge Rich Yellow colour Trim around the curtain. Drill Point 12 16mm Vertical 4 mm Away from Bolt Below is the Red Union 2134/2234 and the Gray ‘Yale 560. They both have a very distictive hard plate that stops abruptly on the right when viewing lever side. They are 5 Gauge, the levers a slightly smaller than the 22346. Union lever pack to right. ‘Union 204 Yale $60 ©Cgt Chubb 3Gt1¢ Chubb S75 Chybh AG? The Chubb 3G114 is probably the most common BS mortice lock found on wooden front doors in the UK. It gave rise to the common mistake of calling all lever mortice locks ‘Chubb locks’ and you will hear many people say they have a Chubb, which they may well do but they generally mean they have a lever lock which could well be a Yale or ERA. oranything. Commonly also people refere to their rim eylinder asa Yale lock,Drill Point 13 17mm Vertical 6mm Away from Bolt. Security Solutions None BS None Curtain 5 Lever, Red and Blue versions 5.5 Gauge Over lifting and try out keys work 2in 1 pick (Old Chubb alone Drill Point 14 16mm Vertical 6mm Towards the Bolt None Curtain, warded This is a very old Chubb and it has a very thin gauge which | estimate at 9 Gauge, [have no gauge keys that will fit in this bad boy London Lock. It is similar to the larer 3G 114. Alternative Opening methods require safelock. euch, This Black lock has the same lever pack as the rest of the Securefast locks below except they are smaller. Drill Point 15 17mm Vertical 12mm Towards the bolt None BS Securefast. 7 Gauge It has no hard plate. Drill Point 16 oN Below is a Black 5 17mm Vertical 15mm Towards the Bolt atuge wall 7 Gange, 5 lever ‘Securefaet Lover Pack uses this drill point Below are various Securefast locks, there are some different colours such as gray & the red Geni, which has the same gauge and hard plate Wilsall lever pack 7 ~2Drill Point 17 Below is the Black walsall 16mm Vertical é. with a hard plate above the 19mm towards the Bol Lepeay: 5 Gauge, 5 Lever ™ T Above is a Colson and a York none BS locks with the Colson Lever pack pictured. There are numerous locks that have been made that use this lever pack and can all be identified by being 5 Gauge with no hard plate, the keyway reaches to the bottom of the lock case, they come in a multitude of colours. You could confuse one as being a red union 2201 or a dark gray Yale which have avery different lever pack and drill point. Fortunately there are none which are red or dark gray but many which are silver/light gray and gold and one dark maroon like red which is very different to the bright Union red. | There are also none curtained locks that use this drill point and have — the same lever pack, Eclipse Dvenport eR Burgess ex R Drill Point 18 18mm Vertical 20mm Towards the bolt 5 Lever ‘These locks are very easy to identify as they have the thinnest gauge. They are) 9 Gauge and if you have a gauge key this gauge you will know it is one of these k Red Belguant Blue Gibbons (Gibbons Lever PakDrill Poingt 19 30mm towards the bolt, 5 gauge This is the Chubb Detainer Drill Point. This is very easy to identify because the keyway is shorter and fatter than other Chubb locks such as the 3G 114 wheh at aglance you could misidentify it as. A Chubb Detainer key should be used. to indentify these locks. A chubb detainer key will not fit into any other locks. ‘Most detainer locks are the gray colour as illustrated at the top of the page. ‘However there are two golden brown chubb detainers which are used in sliding doors, these are called 3M50 and 3M51 Rusty Example Chubb Detainer Left is the Chubb | 3R35 which has a stam shut latch type of bolt and athumb | |) turn for interior f) dead lacking. Right is the 370 j) it has a dead bolt like the 3gL10 and a latch with a handle which s missing from this picture, the detainer levers are missing tooDrill Point 20. 22mm DOWN ‘This is the Wellington 6 Lever This drill point is to access the thumb turn as illustrated right. Drill point 21. 20mm towards the bolt and 2imm DOWN. This is to manipulate the vertically hung levers when picking has failed. - Qo Lever side view : ‘ cree ‘of the keyway Bolt side view of the keyway also showing the thumb turn, Drill Point 22 3G220 17mm towards the bolt dm Down | This chubb like the wellington above has Vertically hung levers. they are slim locks and identification can be easily down with an inspection through the keyhole. You should be able to see the levers on the right and the curtain spring on the right. On all other chubbs the curtain spring is on the left except detainers where it is central. This is viewing lever side as illustrated to the left. If viewed bolt side this is reversed.Drill Point A 17mm vertical ‘6mm Away from bolt 5 Gauge 3 lever locks with keyway warding Security Solutions, sterling and other brands. Alternatively try out keys and Drill Poing B 19mm Vertical 10mm Towards the Bolt 5 Gauge, 3 lever ERA. Gray York Gold YorkDrill Point C CF 18mm Vertical 2mm Towards Bolt Yale M903 Dull Green colour 5 Gauge 3 Lever Drill Point D 14mm Vertical 5mm Away from Bolt these three locks are all 3 lever Legges with a distictive thick trim. White and Grays This is a 2 lever Union with pictures of the keyway top black bolt side, bottom is lever view: Try out keys or over lifting will work very well. Left: This Union 2 lever is a Rebated lock, this is just an extra part fitted to the face side of the lock as illustrated. Itis for wooden doors in a porch or pation doors where the doors close together.Drill Point E 15mm Vertical Omm These are all two lever locks To the right isa slim Legge try out keys or over lifting works very well. ‘These 4 black Locks are all various 2 lever Union locks and one silver 2 lever Yale. There main defence is small wards in the keyway which hampers over lifting, a small file can remove this ward. These are common on back doors. Yale Drill Point F 13mm Vertical Omm This is a two lever Evered/Legge Some have a ward at the bottom of the keyway and others at the top. Two lever try out keys and. over lifting works wellDrill Point G 14mm Vertical, 9mm towards the Bolt ‘This is.a gray Legge and a black SLM. They are both 3 lever locks and the x lever pack is attached to the bolt, so as the lock opens the levers move with the bolt. Try out keys work well. Drill Point H 18mm Vertical 7mm Towards the Bolt. ‘These locks are all Legges, except one which is a Fleet Their lever packs are also attached to the bolt and nt oy move with the bolt when opening. ‘The bolt stomp is attached to the case. Bathroom Mortice Lock This is an example of what a ‘Bathroom’ lock looks like. As you can see it is operated by a thumb Turn. Simply remove the cover or handle on the room and use a screwdriver to turn the cam.This is a Double throw None Curtain Lock This may well require two drill holes First is Drill point 7 20mm Vertical & 6mm towards the bolt Second, Drill Point, i 20mm vertical 4 mm away from bolt As you can see the case is speckled blue, 5 gauge warded with a big trim, It also comes in a red colour. This isa Willenhall gate lock. Found in, mainly metal gates, It’s 4 lever and none curtained. There is two places you could drill on this lock. One option would be by the gate which would be a normal place. [think a better spot would be in the cut in the belly of the levers. Drill point] 13mm vertical 19mm towards the bolt.