Lock (device)
A lock is a mechanical or electronic fastening device that is released by a physical object (such as a key, keycard, fingerprint, RFID card, or security token) or secret information (such as a keycode or password), or combination of more than one of these.
Typically, in pin-tumbler and wafer-tumbler applications, a lock in the rest position is closed. The key has a series of grooves on either side of the key (the key's blade), which limit the type of lock the key can slide into. As the key slides into the lock, the grooves on the blade of the key align with the wards in the keyway allowing or denying entry to the cylinder. Then, a series of pointed teeth and notches on the blade called bittings allow pins or wafers to move up and down until they are in line with the shear line of the inner and outer cylinder, allowing the cylinder or cam to rotate freely inside the lock and the lock to open.
Read more about Lock (device): History of Locks, Famous Locksmiths, Types of Locks, List of Common Locks
Famous quotes containing the word lock:
“Time, which shows so vacant, indivisible, and divine in its coming, is slit and peddled into trifles and tatters. A door is to be painted, a lock to be repaired. I want wood, or oil, or meal, or salt; the house smokes, or I have a headache; then the tax; and an affair to be transacted with a man without heart or brains; and the stinging recollection of an injurious or very awkward word,—these eat up the hours.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)