Master Keyed or keyed Alike?
By David Harvey January 31st 2012
I am often asked to explain the difference between master Keyed and Keyed Alike locks.
Please let me explain the difference:
MASTER KEYED
Master Keyed means several locks that all operate with different keys but can also be opened with one single key called a Master Key. An example would be a hotel: Lets say we have a hotel with 100 rooms that are rented out to guests like you or me. The hotel has 10 floors and on each floor there are ten individual rooms. The hotel guest is given one key that will only open their individual room, it will not open any other rooms, this is called a Differ Key or sometimes called a Servant Key. However, the hotel employs cleaners to clean the rooms and each cleaner cleans one floor each. The cleaner is given a key that will open all of the rooms on the particular floor that they will be cleaning. This group of ten rooms is called a 'suite' and the key they are given is called the Sub Master Key. This key will not open any rooms on any other floor. The manager of the hotel only wants to carry one single key that will open all 100 rooms in the hotel. In the event of a guest loosing their key, the manager can open your room using this single key, this key is called the Grand Master Key. The Grand Master key will open all 100 rooms and probably all other locks in the hotel, such as the manager's Office or the Restaurant etc. This is a much simplified explantion, it's can get much more complex and often does, Master Keying is fun to seriopus locksmiths such as ourselves.
KEYED ALIKE Keyed alike (some times called 'Suited') is very different and much more simple. Lets say we have a village hall that is rented out for social functions. The hall has six doors. It would be sensible to key all the six locks alike so that only one key is needed to open and close the hall. This is called Keyed Alike. Perhaps the Village hall would prefer the three doors to the front of the building to be on a different key to the three doors to the rear. In this case there would be two keys or 'suites' Key 1 opens all the front doors. K ey 2 opens all the back doors. I hope this explantion has helped.
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