JulieM (asker) Sep 27, 2012:

J'avais cherché aussi sur les sites commercialisant les serrures Yale, effectivement. Vos explications et votre patience sont précieuses Tony, ce n'est pas la première fois que j'en bénéficie :) Un grand merci encore

Tony M Sep 26, 2012:

Not really The 'condamnation' on a toilet door is not quite the same thing — that actually directly operates a simple bolt.

The point here is that the Yale pattern lock has a spring-loaded bolt (pène) more like and ordinary door catch; so the 'snib' is needed to hold the bolt in one position or the other (out or in) regardless of what the spring is trying to make it do. So you could look upon it as a catch that locks the bolt! I would think of it as a 'verrou de blocage de pène' — but I can't imagine it would actually be called that! Of course, it may not actually exist in France, since this type of lock is uncommon (non-existent?) over here. I suppose you might call it 'bouton secondaire'??

Here is a picture of a traditional Yale lock:

http://mirror-us-ga1.gallery.hd.org/_exhibits/office-motes/d...

You can see the small round 'snib' just to the left of the main knob marked 'Yale' — and if you look carefully, you can just see the slot that allows this snib to slide up and down by a few mm to operate.

I have checked out some FR sites, but even Yale themselves don't seem to market this type of lock in France.

JulieM (asker) Sep 26, 2012:

one last thing... Out of mere curiosity, do you know a French equivalent for "snib"?

JulieM (asker) Sep 26, 2012:

I think I know a mechanism that must be similar: on some doors in FR (generally toilet doors, as far as I can remember), there's a button on the knob (and no lock) so you can close it from inside, but not from outside. But you're right, i won't go into such details in a novel ;) Thanks again!

Tony M Sep 26, 2012:

I think so... You see, with Yale type locks, unlike FR locks, you don't turn anything: you set the lock by releasing the little catch (the snib) that either holds the 'pène' back (= retracted), or holds it in the out position to prevent the door from shutting completely (if it is open), or to lock the door so it cannot be opened from the outside (if it is closed). So when the door shuts, the pène normally springs out, unless the snib is 'up' (or turned, on some models). Hence the expression in EN: "Stay as long as you like, then just drop the catch when you leave" — i.e. release the snib so the door will lock behind you.

All this is a bit too much detail for you to need in your document, I think!

JulieM (asker) Sep 26, 2012:

Thanks Tony This really helps! You must me right.
Cette histoire des deux pênes me laissait perplexe aussi, je ne voyais pas bien le rapport entre le snib et les deux serrures. "Il avait tourné le verrou du haut" suffirait donc, non ?

Tony M Sep 26, 2012:

Improper use of the term From the small amount of context we have, it seems that this person is simply having problems because she has to open both locks at the same time; this is not really the 'proper' meaning of 'snib' — it simply means he had locked both locks; but EN locks, as distinct from many FR ones, spring back if you release the key. Hence why the manœuvre is difficult if you have to turn 2 keys in 2 locks simultaneously, and maybe also operate the door-handle (a common-enough configuration in EN)

I don't think you can get invovled in describing the technical details; the FR reader is either going to know about Yale-type locks or not.