Unknown lock with strange keyway and holes

[tballard]

I recently saw a lock with a very odd keyway, and am dying to know what it is.

Disclaimer: This lock is clearly in use, and I don't want any info on how to pick it, bypass it, etc... I just want to know what the heck it is, and perhaps what the "holes" are for.

Additional Info:

• Everyone I've shown this to immediately jumps to the conclusion it was drilled, but in person it is clear the holes in the face are factory-made.
• The rest of the building this lock is in appears to be Sargent i-core locks
• The central part of the keyway is about the size of an Abloy key
• The "squiggle" descending from the center of the keyway is wider than the blade on a normal key
• There appears to be writing on the faceplate in the picture, but I don't remember seeing any writing in person, so it may be an artifact of the hastily taken camera phone picture.

Hasty camera phone picture:


Sketch:


So what about it LP101? Any clue what this creature is?

[keysman]

Can you give some more information please? The lock appears to be in use ....what kind of place is it ?? Hotel/motel? School ?office ?

[tballard]

The lock is in use. I saw it in a very publicly accessible area in an airport. More specifically it was securing a door to a room which was marked something generic like "storage". The door swings outward, and there was no protection over the strike, which sorta argues against high-security, but so does the Master #3 I saw the TSA using to secure some stuff.

[unlisted]

My best guess not ever seeing anything like that before would be some type of electronic/physical master key type system- The hole in the actual keyway would be for the electronic "tag" on the key blade, and the two holes above are for an electronic management device to allow/deny certain users and for user history...

But I'm just guessing here..

[sfi72]

That is an intellikey lock, I don't know much about them, here is their home page: http://www.intellikey.com/ They look like pretty interesting locks.

[tballard]

That is an intellikey lock, I don't know much about them, here is their home page: http://www.intellikey.com/ They look like pretty interesting locks.

SFI wins! Thank you! This is almost certainly what I saw: http://www.intellikey.com/products_cylinder.html

(and how much do I love the ad text on their main page: "A hospital environment is made up of patients, staff, vendors, physicians, visitors.... and the enemy" )

[MacGnG1]

you were talkin about this in chat, im glad someone figured it out cause its pretty cool.

is it like a key with rfid chip in it??

[Olson Burry]

To me, it looks like the key would emit a series of pulses from the led lights in to the holes above the key-way that are unique to the key. That would then be processed by the central locking system, logged and access either granted or denied.

[exspook]

the key has a pasive transponder (eg no batteries)

I have seen these locks on a number of US airports

they are programmed with master key and have a wide range of functions and can be remotely monitered

physically the key blank has only 1 pin the rest is in the electronics

Dave

[raimundo]

And then Olson Burry is right about those holes being for led's ?

Im thinking that the holes are LEDs and perhaps only one red and one green to indicat the state of the lock, just like a Marlok

[tballard]

And then Olson Burry is right about those holes being for led's ?

Im thinking that the holes are LEDs and perhaps only one red and one green to indicat the state of the lock, just like a Marlok

Yes, Olson is correct. If you look at the product page, the key blade is basically there as an alignment guide and plug for powering the on-board micro controller The two LEDs are actually one IR LED and one IR photosensor. They line up with the two holes to communicate via an encrypted protocol. (There is a handshake, and some other bi-directional communication, including audit trail, which is kinda cool)

What is a bit sketchy is that the details of the "encryption" are disclosed anywhere I can find, which is seldom a good sign.

[greyman]

Could've fooled me! It looks like someone had a few unsuccessful tries at drilling it out!