Keyway

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A keyway is the shaped channel in a lock cylinder into which the key slides to gain access to the lock tumblers, or a slot cut in an axle or shaft to accept a locking piece.

Lock keyway shapes vary widely with lock manufacturer, and many manufacturers have a number of unique profiles requiring a specifically milled key blank to engage the lock's tumblers.

Most people refer to lock keyways as keyholes, a linguistic carryover from the days when locks utilized bit keys that actually entered the lock through a hole in the door.

[edit] Machinery

A keyway is also a longitudinal slot milled along the side of a cylindrical machine shaft, or a notch cut into the inside hole of a pulley or gear, all of which indentations are intended to accept a small rectangular or semi-circular bit of metal (known as a Woodruff key). This provides one way of locking pulleys, gears, and other parts to shafts.

[edit] See also

• Key (lock)