Acorn patio door lock
Acorn and Arcadia are both companies that made sliding patio doors in the 1960's and 1970's. Their patio door lock is a very simple one piece style where the lock and the inside handle are all in one. They are typically held on by 2 long screws spaced 3-1/2 inches apart on center.
The 2 long screws go right through the patio door from the inside to secure the outside handle. The patio door has a single 3/4 inch hole drilled in the face of the stile where the keeper can enter when the door is closed.
The keeper can be 2 different types. The older original version is mounted on the door jamb and looks very much like a bolt sticking out almost an inch. There were also two rubber bumpers above and below to keep the door from slamming shut too hard.
A newer version is also mounted on the door jamb but it looks a hook and is very similar to dozens of other manufacturers keepers. The newer keeper can be mounted with the hook down or the hook up, makes no difference.
If you are handy with a drill and a vise you can also bend up your own keeper from some scrap piece of thin metal bar.
Handle sets for old Acorn doors are still being manufactured and sold by Prime-Line. Arcadia door handles and locks are much more difficult to find
You can convert an Acorn door to a more modern mortise lock but you will need to replace the inside and outside handle and cut the shape for the new E2014 mortise lock into the edge of the patio door.
You can also retrofit an Arcadia door with an Acorn handle set. The hole centers wont match so you will have to drill new holes. Some Arcadia doors have such strong and well built handles that they never break. For these types you may be able to retrofit an E2014 lock to replace the impossible to find Arcadia mortise lock.
As well, the handles will need a new holes drilled since they will have different hole centers
Security on these old locks is not too good.
Acorn patio door lock handle sets
Questions about Acorn doors
I need to re-key or replace 4 1960 era locks / handle devices. Photo's are shown below. They have held up remarkably well but have now reached the end of their life.
It is a long shot I know, but do you have these available or some version like them ? Two devices lock into a fixed jamb and two are on a pair of doors that lock at the meeting style.
A thumb piece in the middle of the interior handle paralleling the glass operates the lock when on the inside.
I can get any other additional information that you may require or even remove and send a device to you to look at.
This is an old Arcadia door hasp, the screw head pokes into the hole in the stile and the lock slides down around it to lock the door. The rubber bumpers (the top one is missing here) stop the door from slamming hard on the lock.
The old Arcadia patio door lock is made of formed sheet metal, this picture is from a 1993 catalog. They are very difficult to find nowadays. There is a small plastic part which connects to the thumbturn which breaks all the time. That plastic part is still available so if your lock is not destroyed by rust, it still may be possible to get it working again.
The above picture is an Arcadia keyed outside pull handle. Its a solid chunk of aluminum and will probably outlive the patio door. You can still get these re-keyed if you want to use the lock but you need to use a newer E2014 mortise lock to replace the old sheet metal Arcadia lock.
I have posted replacement handle set pictures on this page. It is also possible to replace the lock cylinders if the handles are still in good condition. Would need would need diameter and length for the lock cylinder and a picture to make sure it has the same actuating pin as my cylinders have.
Hi Jason;
Pretty sure what you have is a 1967-1970 era Arcadia Series 700 Patio door lock. Quite the thing to have back in its day.
It should be possible to install a replacement Acorn keyed handle set because the Old Acorn doors had a similar setup as the Arcadia. Plus the Acorn handle sets are still being made.
Heres a grey finish Acorn handleset with key:
As far as I know its the only Acorn handleset you can find with a key
Its made for a 1" wide or thick patio door which your should be same as yours
Im choosing the Acorn because it uses the same square hole in the style that Arcadia does, but the hole centers for the handle will probably not match the original so they will need to be redrilled.
Underneath the outside handle there should be access holes for removing the old Arcadia lock. You grab hold of it with needle nose pliers, remove the 2 screws and jockey it out through the hole. If you drop it it will just fall inside the door, no big deal since you are replacing it anyway.
For the new Acorn lock you need the access hole to be right behind the key cylinder, so the old access hole may need to be widened or a new hole made. The hold is needed because you have to maneuver the hasp inside the door and then screw on the thumbturn on the other side.
Worst case scenario if the handles dont cover the access holes you need a thin flat piece of aluminum sheet between the handle and the door to cover everything up.
If you can send me sketch with dimensions to existing holes I can lay things and tell you where to drill new holes to get this thing to fit
You could also make a more modern E2014 mortise lock handle fit but there would be more cutting than with the Acorn.