Mortice locks
Mortice locks are a very common type of lock that is inset often into the wooded door these are very common for internal doors such as bathroom of bedroom doors and they may or may not have the ability to be locked.
Rim locks
Rim locks sit on the outside of a door, it's the type of lock that one might say "drop the latch" to a person leaving the building so that the door locks behind them. Today there are many varieties of rim locks and not all conform to British standards and therefore are not insurance approved. When a rim lock is used on an external door it is often referred to as a nightlatch.
UPVC multipoint locks
UPVC multipoint locks are used on plastic patio type doors and as the name would suggest lock the door at multiple points along the frame. These types of lock often use long strips and hooks attached to the central locking mechanism perhaps with rollers to ease key turning. Many multipoint locking systems require the user to lift the door handle up to engage the locking mechanism prior to actually turning the key to lock the door.
Knob sets
Door lock knob sets are where the lock is incorporated into the door knob, the key is inserted into the centre of the door knob. These locks were very popular in the 1970's especially in hotels and other public buildings and have largely been replaced with master key systems utilising a key card or other access controls systems.
Keyless entry systems
Keyless entry systems often referred to as intercom systems or keypad entry are used widely in hotels and are an advanced centrally controlled entry system that are only appropriate for extremely large houses. Many businesses use keyless entry control systems.
Cylinder Security Locks
These types of lock have a clear advantage over level locks in that there are millions of different keys which allow for complex master key systems to work while maintaining a very high degree of protection and security.
Most if not all locks have a bolt of some kind which is used as the mechanism that actually locks the door. Most of the bolts used in the majority of door locks are known as spring bolts or maybe deadbolts.
Spring bolts work by snapping into place in the frame of the door once the door is closed. Typically the bolt is held firmly in place by steel spring thus giving the lock its name. Spring bolts are the more extensively used in modern days because don't require a key in order to to be locked from the outside of the door. The deadbolt in locks where the bolt slides onto a metal plate which is set into the door frame, then some type of key is inserted and is required to in order to operate the lock from the external location.
