Corbin Locks -- Ball Bearings?

[fgarci03]

Nice!

I know it's a simple thing, but I irrationally love locks with ball barings on the keypins!!
Thanks for sharing!

[jeffmoss26]

I've got a similar Corbin padlock, even looks to be the same keyway. On the one master ring I dared to take apart, only the first 2 chambers had ball bearings. The rest were standard keypins.

[CalebMcanelly]

[spam]

[Your datacenter is about 10 blocks away from me. Should I head over there and ask them for your address, idiot? --Legion303]

[CarsonReidDavis]

Hey Guys!

So I finally picked the Corbin I posted about earlier. No SPP, I just raked it with a homemade Bogota. I also cleaned out the insides, as it was pretty dirty. Check out the pictures of how the locking mechanism works.

[GordonAlexander]

Hey Everyone-

Did older Corbin locks have ball-bearings on top of the pins? (dated late 1950s)

Yes. 1902-1960's .116" ball bearings were inserted to reduce wear until harder brass was available for key blanks. All five chambers of Corbin and Russwin used to contain ball bearings until 'lock combing' became an issue. Ball bearings wear gradually reduced until only the first two chambers contained them. The older the lock, the more the bearings. SK1 is the Curtis/esp/Ilco number for original 77-5 Corbin keys. 77-5 was an original X class keyway, so it is old. You still see SK1's because they were widely used. I don't know the exact date of the incorporation of the front two chambers using the ball bearings.

All the information above is taken from the Corbin cylinder manual.