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Malekal wrote:worked in a hotel a some point, but never seen these...

escher7 wrote:Here's a blurb from a guy at antique-locks.com advising against disassembly:

http://www.antique-locks.com/showthread ... rtise-Lock

P.S. Gordon mentioned in a previous post that the blank is an Ilco WF1, in case you want to try impressioning.

http://keypicking.com/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=7916

pennme wrote:Some info about Winfield hotel locks. I worked at a hotel in 1987 that had this system, and was responsible for working on it. My examples of this were using Mortise cylinders in a Mortise lockset. I know that there are cylindrical locksets, but while I do have one that I bought and have taken apart, I did not work as extensively with them.

This is a Bi-Centric cylinder. It was used before the mandate for all hotels to have magnetic keys.

There are 3 keys for these locks. Guest, Maid, Emergency. The Guest key fits the side that does not have “Maid” stamped on it. The Maid and Emergency keys work the “Maid” side.

The keys have 10 cuts, and only have two cuts. I don’t know what the factory calls them, but basically a 0 (Shallow) and a 1 (Deep) cut. If there is a 0 cut on one side, the other side will be a 1, and vice versa.

The keys are all steel, and I believe that they are punched.

The guest key has a 4 digit number stamped on it, and this relates to the cuts. I do not have any biting list.
The Maid key has a numbering sequence, but I am not sure what it is, as I don’t have a Maid key.
The Emergency key is labeled Ex, where x is a number. I have only seen them as a single digit, but certainly there can be more than 10 (0-9). I have an E3. On the other side there is a 3 digit number. My E3 has a 007 key. (Must have belonged to James Bond).

The cylinders are handed based on the handing of the door. The cam is geared, and the 2 plugs have gearing on them, so that whichever one is being used, is the one that will engage the cam. There is a flat spot on each of the cylinders, so that when it is turned back to remove the key, it will not engage. The cylinders will reversed based on the handing of the door. So, if the Maid keyway is on the right for a particular handing (not sure which one), the other handing will have the Maid on the left side.

The guest keys have a larger opening in the head of the key. There is a plastic push in, that can be removed, and placed in the key. These could either be a room number, or a blind code. Winfield made a press to put these in place, although, you can just push them in. To get them out, you can use any other key, and pry it out. This was done so that when they had to rekey, they could reuse the keys at a later date for a different room. We had a board with all of the keys arranged by the 4 digit code number on them.

Guest (Side not marked Maid). This is for the key that the guest has. It will only turn far enough to pull in the latch, not the deadbolt. There is a slot at the top of the keyway that allows the key to enter, and allow the retainer to fit in, and hold the key in place. There is a second slot that is offset at the 2 o’clock, or 10 o’clock position depending on the cylinder. The guest key will not turn back to this position in normal use. This second slot is ultimately used to rekey the cylinder.

The Maid side is used for the Main and Emergency keys. The Maid key works the same as the guest key, in that it will only retract the latch, and not the deadbolt, and the Maid key will only turn one direction, (the same as the guest key for a particular cylinder). The Emergency key will turn 360 degrees, which will allow it to retract a deadbolt and then continue to retract the latch.
While the Maid and Emergency keys also have 10 cuts, only 9 can be used for key combinations. The first cut (read Bow to Tip), determines if the key is a Maid key or an Emergency key. With the retainer of the key up, if the first cut is a 0, then it is a maid key, if it is a 1, then it is an Emergency key. The rest of the cuts will be the same for both the Maid and Emergency keys of a set. They come as a set, so that they work together.
The Emergency can be turned in either direction.

No on to rekeying.

To rekey the Emergency and Maid key combination. You would insert the Emergency key, and turn it to the second cut out, and remove the key. This puts this core in a neutral core. You then would put in the Emergency that you want the cylinder keyed to, and turn it back to the 12 O’clock position. The old Emergency and Maid will no longer work. The Emergency key that you keyed it to will work, as will the Maid key that came as a pair.
To rekey the Guest key. Insert the Emergency key, rotate it 180 degrees to the 6 O’clock position. Next, insert a current working guest key in the lock with the Emergency key still in the cylinder. Now turn both keys backwards (In reference to the Guest key), until the Guest key aligns with the cutout on the guest side at either 2 O’clock (or 10 O’clock, depending on the cylinder). Remove the Guest key. This will put the guest core in a neutral position. Insert a new working Guest key, and turn them back so that the guest key is back at the 12 O’clock position. Remove the Guest key. Rotate the Emergency key back to the 12 O’clock position, and remove.

The locks can be rekeyed an infinite number of times, and the Maid / Emergency side can be rekeyed independent of the Guest side.

I did find that on the Mortise cylinders, that the maid key, when the cylinder was out of the lock could turn far enough that it would allow you to insert the guest key, and rekey it. With it in the door, typically the latch mechanism would prevent it from turning far enough.

On the maid side, the cylinder is designed for cuts 2 – 10 to align correctly. The “Magic” is in cut 1. In the cylinder, there is a part of it milled out for the first cut, that allows the Maid key to only turn one direction, and only for a certain portion, preventing it from turning backwards. Since the Maid key has the 1st cut as a 0, the wafer sticks up, but the milling on the cylinder allows it to pass.

The plugs for each side on the face are not perfectly round. The Guest plug is milled so as to only allow it to turn in one direction. Turning it the other way will bind it against the face of the Maid plug. The Maid plug has a section milled on the other side, so that when the plug is turned 180 degrees, it will allow the Guest plug to turn back, and not be blocked. This restriction of movement is not due to any gearing, but milling of the plug faces. The plug faces, if not milled, would overlap each other.

I have tried to find a set of Maid / Emergency keys, but have not yet been successful.

Additionally, Winfield made an electronic lock that was used in hotels for a while. They were a plastic headed key that had what looks like a small circuit board sticking out of it with a small hole in it, with 4 contact on each side. The keys came in different color heads. I believe the Red headed key was the Emergency. Maid keys I believe were a different color from the guest keys.
It is virtually impossible to find out anything about Winfield hotel locks.

I will write more about how the mechanism inside the lock works so that it can be rekeyed, and will try to post some pictures.

If you have any questions, please feel free to let me know, and I will do my best to answer them.