U Change Lock

[ElAbogado]

I'll bet most of you think that Kwikset invented the SmartLock and the locking mechanism that is inside their lock. Think again.
Back in the late 1960's a company called "U Change" from Oklahoma City invented the lock that appears below. Look carefully at the keys, the changing tool, and the slot on the face of the plug.

Rather than mass market the lock to the general public, U Change kept strict control of the blanks and cylinders, selling them only to industrial/commercial/governmental accounts. They are still made today, with the same strict key control that they have always had.

I spoke with a rep from the company and she told me that they are more than upset with Kwikset over the SmartLock, but legally they can't do anything.

The sample below was taken off the door in the early 70's from a clothing store that was franchised nationwide.

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[UtahRootBeer]

Thanks For That Info.

[femurat]

Nice find. Thanks for sharing.

I looked for further info and found this site.

Cheers

[Rickthepick]

very cool deffo one for the collector

[FarmerFreak]

I find it interesting that U-change would be mad at Kwikset. I mean they only had 30+ years of this before Kwikset made a user changeable lock. And yeah, they look similar from the outside. But from the inside they aren't even remotely close in design. I think they should be mad/disapointed in themselves for not upgrading their lock design for added pick/bump resistance like Kwikset did. (I'm not talking about destructive entry)

Just my $0.02

[ElAbogado]

I find it interesting that U-change would be mad at Kwikset. I mean they only had 30+ years of this before Kwikset made a user changeable lock. And yeah, they look similar from the outside. But from the inside they aren't even remotely close in design. I think they should be mad/disapointed in themselves for not upgrading their lock design for added pick/bump resistance like Kwikset did. (I'm not talking about destructive entry)

Just my $0.02

The way I see it, the U-Change lock is made from quality parts, no pot metal, no plastic. It's been around for 40 years and still going strong. The Kwikset SmartLock, I predict, will be OOP way before 40 years passes. In its present state it is a novelty at best, as the Major Manufacturing tool can open any smartlock by inserting it in the keyway and turning. Additionally, the SmartLock is notorious for ceasing to function, even with the factory keys. It just locks up and that's it.

My personal preference is for the SFIC lock if a customer wants to be able to rekey himself without calling out a locksmith.

El Abogado

[Schuyler]

The UChange was fairly notorious for it's major security failings as well. I'm actually pretty shocked to hear they are still in business. Perhaps they've updated their design in the intervening years, but you are literally the first person I've ever heard with a positive opinion of this manufacturer. Also, what is/was the price point on UChange locks? I don't mean to be confrontational at all, but like I said, I've never heard someone advocate for this company before, so I'm very curious. And as Farmer points out, the two mechanisms have nothing at all to do with each other, so I assume they are only mad because SmartKey has managed to popularize the concept of a rekeyable lock, which isn't UChange's sole territory anyway.

The thing people constantly forget about the SmartKey is that it's meant to replace a friggin' KwikSet...one of the lowest security jokes of a lock ever. It dramatically bumps up the security of their locks, remains inexpensive, easy to install and easy to rekey. This is not meant to be a high security lock, no matter how much the locksport community wants it to be.

[ElAbogado]

The UChange was fairly notorious for it's major security failings as well. I'm actually pretty shocked to hear they are still in business. Perhaps they've updated their design in the intervening years, but you are literally the first person I've ever heard with a positive opinion of this manufacturer. Also, what is/was the price point on UChange locks? I don't mean to be confrontational at all, but like I said, I've never heard someone advocate for this company before, so I'm very curious. And as Farmer points out, the two mechanisms have nothing at all to do with each other, so I assume they are only mad because SmartKey has managed to popularize the concept of a rekeyable lock, which isn't UChange's sole territory anyway.

The thing people constantly forget about the SmartKey is that it's meant to replace a friggin' KwikSet...one of the lowest security jokes of a lock ever. It dramatically bumps up the security of their locks, remains inexpensive, easy to install and easy to rekey. This is not meant to be a high security lock, no matter how much the locksport community wants it to be.

Agreed that just about anything Kwikset is cr@p. Personally speaking, the last good lock they made was the all brass 885 series deadbolt, and that was popular before the bumping craze. I can't understand why anyone would build a $200K house and put a $15.00 lock on it to secure not only the house, but all property and the lives of the occupants inside as well.

As for advocating for U Change, I am not doing that. I am only pointing out that Kwikset's idea for the SmartLock was anything but original, and although it may have been a good idea in theory, the execution of that theory produced a lock was was poorly constructed of pot metal and plastic and has great security failings. I don't think Kwikset will survive with its market share by keeping the status quo. There needs to be an improvement in design and materials to keep pace with the changing times.

As for the two mechanisms having "absolutely nothing to do with each other" I disagree. The manner in which the keys are changed is almost identical, as are the tools used for performing the task. Granted the actual tumbler mechanism might vary, but the end result is identical.

Just to make myself perfectly clear, as if I haven't already done so on this board, I don't use Kwikset locks personally, I don't sell them, and I advise my customers exactly what their level of security is when they have them on their homes.

El Abogado

[raimundo]

first time Ive seen a photo of the combochange tool. I always pictured a large hairpin.
did rielda get there first? U change has a list of ten or so upscale retail chains that are their sole market, I doubt that they are going to change to kwikymart.
Uchange obviously chose a particular market, and is satisfied to serve only those customers.

[Legion303]

Doug Farre sent me one a few years back. It took me roughly 10 minutes to lose one of those little interior pin springs, but about 2-3 years and counting to actually do the breakdown photos I was planning on...

Neat locks to play around with.

-steve

[Evan]

The UChange was fairly notorious for it's major security failings as well. I'm actually pretty shocked to hear they are still in business. Perhaps they've updated their design in the intervening years, but you are literally the first person I've ever heard with a positive opinion of this manufacturer. Also, what is/was the price point on UChange locks? I don't mean to be confrontational at all, but like I said, I've never heard someone advocate for this company before, so I'm very curious. And as Farmer points out, the two mechanisms have nothing at all to do with each other, so I assume they are only mad because SmartKey has managed to popularize the concept of a rekeyable lock, which isn't UChange's sole territory anyway.

Hey Schuyler:

While U-Change locks are easy to pick if you know how to actually SPP a lock rather than scrubbing a pick in the keyway, they are a considerable upgrade from a conventional mortise cylinder with an open keyway... U-Change was marketed towards the chain retail environment where ONLY one key was required to operate the locks installed at such a store location... It has the advantage of not being available to duplicate since Security Solutions doesn't release keyblanks into the wild... Major customers can even have their own exclusive keyway designed... This provides a small increase in loss prevention from internal theft since employees can not copy their keys and then return a key due to a demotion or termination and then use the copied key to burglarize their store location after hours...

U-Change is convenient for a retail chain since the major investment is made when the cylinder is first installed and thereafter they are only paying for new sets of cut keys... They are rekeyable without needing stocks of spare SFIC cores or cylinders located at each store or with field district management personnel... Having a spare set of new keys and the rekeying tool in a sealed envelope on site at each location is a cheaper investment than having spare cores...

Some drawbacks are:
The fact that U-Change cylinders are ONLY five pin...
This limits the available number of key changes per keyway...
They are easily pickable by someone with reasonable picking skill...
The cylinders are only available in mortise, rim and padlock...
They can not be masterkeyed...

So it is everyone with a key can open every lock on site or having more keys to accommodate having a keyed different lock on say the store managers office that only the Store Manager and Assistant Manager would be issued a key for and the Keyholder associates would not be given access to...
Field management like District Managers and Loss Prevention personnel would have to carry a copy of every active U-Change key in their district to be able to access every store without having to contact/alert a store employee in order to gain entry...

So while U-Change is a solution for many retail environments they do have some drawbacks and some chains have been phasing out U-Change cylinders at their store locations during remodels and installing InstaKey SFIC's which are 7 pin and can be master keyed in small groups for field management for access to the stores for District Management and Loss Prevention and allow for different levels of keys at the stores for managers and keyholders like I mentioned above...

~~ Evan

[MacGyver101]

I've only had access to one U-Change cylinder (also compliments of Doug Farre), so I don't know much about them. I am surprised, though, that they never marketed a master-keyable version: they received a patent for a master-keyed version at the same time as their original patent. If they ever did manufacture a master-keyable one (Patent 3,667,262) there should be an additional small round hole on the front face that's for use with a secondary "master key" change tool.

If they had the patent it would seem silly to not manufacture the master-keyable ones as well, for all of the reasons that Evan points out.

[jwhou]

It's interesting that US patent protection is only for 17 years whereas universal patent laws binds other countries to 50 years internationally. The US patent office was formed to circumvent international patent laws and allow US businesses to appropriate the intellectual property of other countries. Could it be that the US resembles Ferengi culture more than that of the Federation?

I think there's a legal battle between Schlage and Smartkey over the re-keyable features.

Personally, I think re-keying locks is easy enough anyways, there's really no need to be able to do it in seconds when a few minutes is all that's needed. I re-keyed my whole house for $1.80 in pins, a local hardware store lent me the tools, gave me an old key to re-key to and walked me through a practice lock. Hardest part was removing the locks from the door knobs and finding something to turn the setscrew on the front door deadbolt which had concealed screws (a jeweller's phillips head screwdriver did the trick when I couldn't find an appropriate allen key). Something like the Smartkey has internal components that are just too delicate, the only reason why we use pin tumbler locks is that pins are more robust than wafers.