Deadbolt Failure

I was contacted by a customer in Seaton looking for a locksmith to help her with the deadbolt on her front door.  She was reporting that it was working fine from the outside but the key was just spinning around when she tried to lock or unlock it from the inside.

It is not unusual for locksmiths to come across deadbolts that have failed over time.  Genreally speaking, more often than not the latch itself will fail causing the lock to be totally inoperable.
From what the customer was reporting, this didn’t appear to be the case this time.

I removed the lock and quickly determined that the latch was indeed working as it should, (although it could have done with some lubrication.)  I turned my attention to the internal cylinder and discovered that when the key was turned, the cam that operates the latch was not turning,  Upon closer inspection i saw that the actuator on the rear of the cylinder had snapped causing the failure the customer had reported.

I was unable to repair or replace this part as the lock was quite old, so a brand new Gainsborough deadbolt was fitted and keyed to the same key that operated the old lock.

I must admit, it is not a fault I have ever seen in a Gainsborough deadbolt before.  Usually the failure is in the latch itself although i believe a lack of lubrication played a big part in causing the cam to fail.   I managed to get some photos of the old deadbolt illustrating the part that failed and how it works within the lock assembly.