Traditionally, custodians and other maintenance workers carried around large rings of keys with copies of the keys to every lock in the building they serviced. However, this approach can slow things down considerably, as the technician in question will need to hunt through all their keys to find the right one.
A more convenient way to grant access is to use our master-keying services. Our team at Aaron-Elliott Locksmiths has extensive experience in the industry, and you can count on us to get the job done right. In this article, we’ll provide a more detailed explanation of what master-keying is and how it works.
What It Is
The term master-keying refers to the process of pairing every lock in a building with a single key, referred to as the master key. Each lock will still work with its original key, but now the master key will be able to unlock it too. This makes it easier for maintenance workers and other personnel to get into the various rooms of a building.
How It Works
To understand how master-keying works, you first need to understand the basics of lock mechanisms. In a lock, there’s a cylinder (or plug) that rotates in a circular fashion and pins that move up and down. When the lock is locked, the pins extend over the seam between the cylinder and the housing (called the shear line), preventing it from rotating. Each of the pins extends over this line by a different amount, and each one has a seam separating it into two sections. When the key is inserted, its teeth cause the seams in the pins to align with the seam of the cylinder, allowing it to turn freely. The master-keying process involves cutting another seam in each pin so they line up with the teeth of a second key.