Differences in mortise cylinder lock brands?

[Squelchtone]

Im sure it is here someplace but I cannot locate the information am curious about. Can anyone point me to where I can find information describing the differences in mortise lock brands? Do most brands offer different keyway warding, or does Medeco, Sargent, ect. Have thier own propriatery warding? I assume some brands are manufactured  to tighter tolerances but which ones are and how does that affect picking them? Thanks in advance.

[jeffmoss26]

Not sure what you are asking. Any mortise cylinder will fit any mortise lock, with the right cam.
Different brands of cylinders have their own keyways. Some are proprietary/high security and others are not.

[ltdbjd]

You may be talking about two different things. When you say “mortise lock,” are you referring to the actual mortise lock, or the mortise cylinder?

The mortise lock is a big rectangular metal thing (technical locksmith descriptiom) that is inserted into a mortise (a cavity in the door). It has the levers to open the door, and the latch in it. The mortise cylinder is the the part the key goes into; and it screws into the mortise lock.

To pick a mortise lock, you stick your pinkie finger into the hole (stop laughing) and trip the mechanism to retract the latch. To pick a mortise cylinder, you need to stick short skinny hard things into the slotted hole (get your mind out of the gutter, pervert) in the cylinder. Put another way, you pick it with lock picks.

[billdeserthills]

Most every manufacturer has a difference engineered into their lock, the cylinders use different
keys and the mortise lock cases generally have different spacings for their hardware to fit. These
manufacturers couldn't secure patent rights for their products if they were too closely copied.
For example a Baldwin mortise lockset could use a sargent or medeco cylinder with the proper
cam, but you couldn't take a door having a Bouvet mortise lock and hardware & substitute a Baldwin
mortise lock without also changing the hardware to Baldwin as well

[Lock_Cracker]

For this question i am not concerned with the mortise lock, only the core and housing .I should have asked if there was a recource comparing motise cylinders and components of differant manufacturers. For instance, will any interchangeable core fit any housing? I assume that for interchanibility and the patents exspiring several manufactuers build to a dominant design that the patent has ran out long ago. Is that a true assumption? Has a recorce been put together that would answer these questions?

[Jacob Morgan]

...I should have asked if there was a recource comparing motise cylinders and components of differant manufacturers. ... will any interchangeable core fit any housing? ...

Mortise cylinders and interchangeable cores are two different things. Mortise cylinders have a standard diameter and thread pitch (1 1/8" diameter - 32 TPI), but come in different lengths for different door thicknesses and, as others have pointed out, they take different cams depending on the lock being operated. The door must be opened, a plate removed, and a set screw backed out to remove one of these for re-keying.

Interchangeable cores use a special control key to remove the core without having to open the door or backing out any set screw. BEST is the most popular for small format IC's, and a number of manufacturers (Schlage, Yale, etc.) have their own designs for large format IC's. The benefit of interchangeable cores is that a building can be rekeyed quickly, so long as they have the control keys and documentation.

Pages 8 - 11 of this catalog from Ilco shows mortise cylinders and cams: http://www.ilco.us/media/1407870/v3/File/cylinders-storefront-door-hardware-exit-devices.pdf Pages 20 - 23 in that document shows a couple of different interchangeable cores, in this case Ilco makes after-market cores for BEST (small) and Schlage (one type of large). There are many other proprietary interchangeable cores out there--books have been written on the subject.

[Lock_Cracker]

Thank you, that helps. It seems elementary now to search the involved brands web site for information,lol. I knew it was right in front of me but just couldnt see it.

[ltdbjd]

Interchangeable cores are available in small format (SFIC) and large format (LFIC). You can’t swap out a SFIC with a LFIC. When it comes to picking, it’s best to start with a simple everyday lock as opposed to an IC. There are a number of unique issues when it comes to picking IC’s, and you’ll have to master the basics first if you hope to be successful with picking IC cores.