Patent ID: 8424935

Claim:
A mortise lockset comprising: a mortise lockset case configured for insertion into a door mortise; a latchbolt enclosed at least partially within the mortise lockset case and guided for movement between positions in which the latchbolt extends out of the case and in which the latchbolt is substantially retracted within the case; a latch retractor, enclosed within the mortise lockset case, operable to retract the latchbolt; a hub assembly, enclosed within the mortise lockset case, operable to drive the latch retractor into a latchbolt-retracting position; first and second handle-operated spindles each configured for selective operative engagement with the hub assembly; a lock-handing selector configured to enable a selection of one of the first and second handle-operated spindles to operate the hub assembly to drive the latch retractor into the latchbolt-retracting position; wherein the lock-handing selector is operable to be changed from a first configuration operatively enabling the first handle-operated spindle to retract the latchbolt to a second configuration, distinct from the first configuration, enabling the second handle-operated spindle to retract the latchbolt, and vice versa, without opening the mortise lockset case; and a faceplate-accessible access control link assembly enabling a user to manually switch between access-enabling and access-denying configurations that respectively enable and disable an opposite one of the first and second handle-operated spindles to operate the hub assembly to drive the latch retractor into the latchbolt-retracting position; wherein the first and second door handle-operated spindles are permanently rotationally decoupled from each other so that operative rotation of either handle-operated spindle does not rotate the opposite handle-operated spindle, even when the faceplate-accessible access control link assembly is in the access-enabling configuration so that both handle-operated spindles are configured for operative movement of the hub assembly.