"Boss Lock" rim lock

[Retro00064]

Hi all:

Hope this is the right section for door locks.

Back in December, the owners of an local old farmhouse where they sell antiques replaced an original door with a new door and literally just slapped a 15 dollar price tag on the old one to sell it (lol), so I got it, and now I have a really old, really heavy (solid?) wood door with the rim lock still installed leaning against my bedroom wall (lol).

The front of the rim lock is marked "BOSS LOCK". On the top of the lock is a lever that locks the door knobs when slid to the right.

A Google search turned up this page on the Internet with an identical-looking Boss Lock rim lock that has a patent date of July 21, 1863 stamped on the back. I have not removed my lock from the door and do not really want to because that would disturb the vintage still-installed condition of the lock and door, so there's no telling if my lock has that patent date stamped on the back. I can only presume that it does.

Anyway, I would appreciate any information on this lock, such as who made them and which years they were made in.

Attached are a couple of photos of the lock. Please note that the doorknobs in the photos are not original to the lock; the door and lock came with no doorknobs, so I installed a pair of antique porcelain doorknobs that I had purchased elsewhere previously.

Thanks in advance.

---Zachary.

[Pschiffe]

Yours is a common "rim knob lock" which were made by numerous manufacturers in the 19th and 20th centuries. I regret that I have no information whatever on Boss Lock. Reproductions are readily available from suppliers like Van Dyke's Restorers and House of Antique hardware, websites:
Van Dyke's Restorers - Inspire Your Home Improvement Projects
Antique Rim Locks & Knobs - Cast Iron Rim Lock, Lock Sets

A well-known supplier to the locksmith industry, Kaba Ilco Corp., imports very competitively priced versions in both vertical and horizontal style that list for $19.75 ea.

Pete Schifferli

[Retro00064]

Thanks Pete. Looks like I got a good deal on my lock, given that I got the whole heavy wood door with the lock still attached for just 15 dollars! Those reproductions (which are likely made in China or somewhere else outside the U.S., and thus might not match the quality of the real American-made McCoy) seem a bit expensive.

If I was trying to find rim locks to replace missing ones or broken ones in an old house, then I might try to find actual antique ones before resorting to reproductions.

If the reproductions are made in the U. S. A., then I would think more highly about them. But if they are made in China, then, as far as I'm concered, they're rubbish. All in my opinion, of course.

For what it's worth, on my first ever visit to that old farm house, I bought an old Skillman mortise lock (just the lock, no knobs or anything) for just 2 bucks. You likely can't beat that deal with a stick!

That old farm house has some doors where the rim lock is missing but there are still escutcheon plates attatched to the door. There are also some keepers/catches still attached to door frames, as well as some doors with old rim locks still attached, a couple of which still have old door knobs. Might be worth taking a better look at those remaining rim locks the next time I visit that house to see what maker's marks, if any, are on them.

If anyone has any information on Boss Lock, then it would still be appreciated.

Regards,

Zachary.