what are these holes for?

[mjsotelo91]

I have an idea,

Presume that these locks are commonly used on contractor sites. The contractors have a set of keys that open every lock in the vecinity for ease of use, but once the building is built it would be ideal if there keys no longer worked to prevent security breaches.

Essentialy the locks are masterkeyed, and there is the contractor key, and the resident key. There are master keying spacers inside the lock are the same height as the depth of the blind holes in the plug. When the contractors use ther keys it raises the pins so that the masterkeying spacers are not lifted over the sheer line and stay within the plug. When the resident key is inserted it lifts the masterkeying spacers above the sheerline, and allows it to turn untill the spacers meet the blind holes, at which point the spacers fire into the holes since they are thinner than the top pins. This means that the masterkeying spacers are now stuck in the blind holes and will not come out. The contractor key no-longer lifts the pins to the right height with the master spacers removed, but allows the resident a functioning key safe in the knowledge there is no master key that will open their door.

I am not suer but it's an idea that came to mind.

i thinks that pretty much wat specialist said but thanks and oyya i rember i got this at like a place that sell lumber and stuff so that would really make sense about contracting and junk

[illusion]

I took ages to write that post since I've never heard of them being used before, but I was beaten to it. I gues I get the self-satisfaction of knowing I figured itm out by myself.

[TheMikeMan]

Maybe that was a construction core, where the pin stacks have ball bearings in them. The contractors keys will work in the lock, but when you put your key in the lock and rotate the plug, the ball bearings will fall down into those other holes. This will render the contractor's key useless if they try using it on your door again. Nifty huh?

[TheMikeMan]

duh, maybe I should have read the whole thread first! oops

[Isakill]

Kwickset does this as well. In my lessons on rekeying a lock-in-knob I saw these holes in the plug and was wondering myself what they were for.

My idea was that they were for a possible security feature (dimple key) not implemented in that plug, thus the unfinished holes.

But I quashed that idea after remembering that I had a Kwickset plug in my hand.

[jordyh]

My idea was that they were for a possible security feature (dimple key) not implemented in that plug, thus the unfinished holes.

But I quashed that idea after remembering that I had a Kwickset plug in my hand.

[specialist]

Yeah, unless you do a great deal of commercial rekeying, you'll seldomly ever use this feature. I rekey tons of locks, and I think out of the year of so I've been doing it, I've only had to use them a few times. Illusion's explanation is probably the most thorough, and easiest to understand. Good job.


Specialist