Mark M wrote:
?Perhaps someone can fill me in on the manufacturer of some very strange
locks on a house we just purchased. I've never encountered locksets like
this before.

The mortised part has no name or code on it. The mechanism is odd: there
is a lever handle inside and outside the door, with a keyed tumbler
below the handle on the outside and knob on the inside. There is both a
deadbolt and latch in the mortised mechanism. To operate the unlocked
door, you depress the lever on either the inside or outside to withdraw
the latch. To lock, however, you RAISE the lever, extending the
deadbolt. If you do not then lock via the tumber or knob, depressing the
lever will withdraw the deadbolt and retract the latch. However, if the
key or knob are turned to the lock position, then the handle cannot be
depressed, and thus the door stays locked via the deadbolt.

The material seems to be a blackened brass, but I'm not sure.

On two French doors to the outside, we have the same hardware. However,
the setup on what would typically be the Dummy door is active. Using the
same philosophy of "raise the lever to extend deadbolt, depress lever to
withdraw deadbolt when key not locked." the deadbolt for the dummy door
is actually completely inside the door and extends upward into the upper
jamb and downward into the threshold. In other words, the dummy
lever/handle locks the inactive door by extending deadbolts both up and
down.

Any ideas of the brand name, who makes it or who might service it
when/if it breaks?

Mark
So you can't lock yourself out without a key? Not so strange.

--
LSMFT

Simple job, assist the assistant of the physicist.