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Why a two part spindle?

I have a interior (bedroom) door with inside and outside levers. It also has a privacy button feature.

Yesterday, I found myself locked out of the bedroom which has no other practical means of access.

The privacy feature has NOT been activated. It stops the outside lever from turning. In this case, the lever was turning just fine -- simply not opening the lock.

As far as I could tell, there was no way to remove the handle and plate from the outside. I forced the door causing really rather minimal damage to the frame/molding and none to the door. Phew.

I have now completely removed the lock and inspected it. The spindle is made in two parts, each 1.75in long. The two parts screw together but cannot be tighted with the four flat surfaces of the spindle fully aligned.

Normally, each half of the spindle will engage in one of the levers *and* the central latch. However, it's clear that the spindle shifted slightly so that the outside half became disengaged with the latch.

Questions:

Why does the lock have this two part spindle? I'm intending to replace it with a nice solid one part spindle. Is there any reason not to do this?

It's academic now, but I've also been trying to figure out how else I might have got into the bedroom without damaging the door frame. I can't see one. The outside lever is secured via screws and posts driven from the inside lever. Any thoughts?

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar
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The main reason for a two part spindle is to allow the inside knob/ handle to always be free. This is often a fire safety requirement, or to allow people to exit a room when the door is locked from the outside (commonly called a 'classroom' function.

A standard lock case may come with a two part spindle anthough the two part feature may not be required. The end user can specify what handles, turm-knobs, cylinders, etc are required and adjustments are available to alter handing and to set up the needed locking functions.

I waa annoyed with the builders on a local church extension. After going to great care to check out and specify lock functions and design a masterkey system based on Australian Lockwood mortise cylinder locks, the !@#$%^ carpenters set up the locks so the inside handles 'locked' instead of being always free despite my leaving a note on the locks to that effect.

With a split spindle, care need to be taken to ensure it is properly aligned. This may require packing the spindle holes on the handles with a piece of wood so the spindle cannot move.

Reply to
peterwn

Ahhh, thank you. Now everything makes sense. In this case, the split spindle allows for the automatic release of the privacy feature when the door is opened from the inside.

The spindle should have been locked in place with a small set-screw which, of course, is missing. I'll try and find a replacement but I'll probably pack the handle as well, just to be sure ;-)

Thanks again.

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

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