Types and Usage
A key is a device that is used to operate a lock (such as to lock or unlock it).
Types and usage of Key:
1. Common
Pin tumbler: A pin tumbler lock key is commonly found on homes.
Lever: A lever lock is made up of a set of ‘levers’ (typically between two and eight) which are raised to different heights by the key when it is turned. Once all the levers have been moved to the correct height, the locking bolt is free to slide across and secure the door.
Tubular: Tubular keys are commonly found on vending machines, launderettes, bike locks, and laptop security cables.
Maison: Maison key systems are often found in apartment building common areas, such as main entrance or a laundry room where individual residents can use their own apartment key to access these areas.
2. Car:
A car key or an automobile key is a key used to open and/or start an automobile. Modern key designs are usually symmetrical, and some use grooves on both sides, rather than a cut edge, to actuate the lock. It has multiple uses for the automobile with which it was sold.
Transponder: Transponder keys may also be called “chip keys”. Transponder keys are automotive ignition keys with signal-emitting circuits built inside.
When the key is turned in the ignition cylinder, the car’s computer transmits a radio signal to the transponder circuit.
3. Others
Double-sided: A double-sided key is very similar to a house or car key with the exception that it has two sets of teeth, an upper level standard set of teeth and a lower, less defined set of teeth beside it.
Paracentric: Paracentric key is that the cylinders are not in a straight line, but can vary to the right or left, so that the key not only has to have the correct height of the pin for a cylinder, the pin is also extended to the left or right of the center of the key.
Abloy: Abloy keys are cut from a metal half-cylinder. The cuts are made at different angles, so when the key is turned in the lock it rotates each disk a different amount.
Dimple: A dimple key has a rectangular blade with various cone-shaped dimples drilled into the face of the blade at various depths.
Skeleton: A “skeleton key” (also known as a “passkey”) is a type of master key in which the serrated edge has been filed down so that it can open numerous locks.
Cruciform key: A Cruciform key has three sets of teeth at 90 degrees to each other with a flattened fourth side.
Magnetic: A magnetic keyed lock is a locking mechanism whereby the key utilizes magnets as part of the locking and unlocking mechanism.
Keycard: A keycard is a flat, rectangular plastic card with identical dimensions to that of a credit card or driver’s license that stores a physical or digital signature that the door mechanism accepts before disengaging the lock.
Smart: A smart key is an electronic access and authorization system which is commonly available as an option or standard in several cars. However, with the hastened development of mobile and smart technologies, house and office keys are increasingly integrated into smartphones, where they act as virtual keys and access rights for users.
