Cylinder lock

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A cylinder lock is a lock in which a cylinder must rotate in order to open the lock. The cylinder may be held in place by a variety of locking mechanisms, including the pin tumbler lock, the wafer tumbler lock and the disc tumbler lock.

The first main advantage to a cylinder lock is that the cylinder, which prevents an improper key from operating the lock, may be changed without altering the boltwork. The second is that it is usually possible to obtain from a cylinder manufacturer cylinders in different cylinder formats that can be all be used with the same type of key. This allows the user to have keyed-alike, and master-keyed systems that incorporate a wide variety of different types of lock, such as nightlatches, deadbolts and roller door locks. Typically, padlocks can also be included, although these rarely have removable cylinders.

Standardised types of cylinder include key-in-knobset cylinders, rim (also known as nightlatch) cylinders, Ingersoll format cylinders, American, and Scandinavian round mortise cylinders, and Scandinavian oval cylinders. There are also standardised cross-sectional profiles for lock cylinders that may vary in length; for example to suit different door thicknesses. These profiles include the europrofile (or DIN standard), the British oval profile and the Swiss profile.

Cruciform pin-tumbler locks may also use interchangeable cylinders, as do a few sophisticated lever locks.