Twenty Years Ago
Sean DeForrest, president of the Security Hardware Distributors Association, wrote about the business pressures on locksmiths in 1999. This was only twenty years ago but Mr. DeForrest did not mention the internet as the force it has become. Jerry Levine visited the western warehouse of Dugmore & Duncan. T.C. Mickley interviewed Pete Burdwood at Southern Lock & Supply. Wade Landrum visited the ten new California offices of Hardware Suppliers of America, Inc (HSI). Wade Landrum also visited with the folks at ADI in Southern California. Locksmith Jeff Dingle suggested the ShatterGard glass protection program. Jerry Levine installed Von Duprin exterior breakaway lever trim. Jerry Levine also described the ease of installation of Detex exit devices equipped with Advantix locator plates. Ford Ranger tire lock and keys were discussed. Chuck Robertson demonstrated the new mortising tool from A1 Manufacturing. Where are they now? Major Manufacturing showed their new door mounting system for aluminum door locks. Hubert Curry tested the Model 2700 car opening tools by High Tech Tools. Locksmith Bruce Carlson invented a snap-in cylinder to convert Kwikset to Schlage keyways. It was $3.95 in 1999. Tom Gillespie demonstrated how to convert a knob lock to an Ilco Unican 7000 pushbutton lock. Milt Wolferseder serviced a GSA container.
Ten Years Ago
Timothy O'Leary reported on the state of biometrics used in door hardware. Tom Gillespie checked into a new Helix 100 biometric product by General Lock. Jerry Levine offered a primer on how to explain and sell biometrics based hardware. Jerry Levine showed installation steps involved while installing and Adams-Rite eForce lever lockset. Gale Johnson reported on his visit to a locksmith convention in Oslo, Norway -- a once in a lifetime experience. Arnie Goldman, SHDA, suggested ways to stop a fraudulent scam. Timothy O'Leary introduced a Locinox gate closer to Ledger subscribers. Steve Young offered part One of a series on servicing Subaru Outback locks. Ledger reported on another great Intermountain locksmith show.
Checking Into A Duo Lock
A subscriber sent in a strange problem. He has a lock handle for a truck body which uses a Duo key. His customer requires additional duplicates. This Duo key contained both edge cuts and inner cuts, so he contacted the Illinois factory to obtain duplicates. Illinois Lock Company sent him to their service center, Northeast Lock. Northeast Lock did not recognize the "BD" code printed on the keybow. The subscriber then contacted Locksmith Ledger to solve the problem. We determined the key blank to be an Ilco 1042A or Illinois 510 original key blank.
Duo key cuts can be easily read. There are usually 5 spaces and 4 depths. Maximum adjacent cut (MAC) is 2. This produces 1024 possible code combinations minus those cuts which violate the MAC. Top and bottom cuts add up to five. Example: a top cut of "2" has a corresponding bottom cut of "3".
There are four additional spaces used for inner cuts. Inner cuts can either be a no cut (0) or a cut (1). Duo keys uses 16 different inner cuts (2 raised to the 4th power). The first letter of a Duo code indicates what inner cuts to use. The example key in the picture has a stamped code of N8046. "N" inner cuts are 0111.
Another interesting feature of Duo keys is the stop. Ilco inserts a small stop on their aftermarket key blanks but that is for looks only. The first cut nearest the bow on factory keys is vertical. Uncut Duo blanks will not enter the lock until they are cut. During the cutting procedure the vertical 'shoulder' is cut which then hits against the first wafer tumbler and acts as a stop.
