I'm no locksmith, but like Goober, I do know a little bit about locks and how to pick them. There are at least two episodes in which the "tumblers" of the cell door locks are mentioned; in addition to Cousin Virgil, there's the one where Ernest T. Bass keeps breaking out (Barney eventually finds an old bent fork in the cell and theorizes that Ernest T. had been using it as a key (Barney had obviously neglected the SHAKEDOWN! -- but I digress.))
Anyway, from the looks of the keys, those locks are what's called warded locks, and warded locks do not have tumblers. Instead, there are metal obstructions (wards) in the way that prevent the key from rotating if the wrong key is inserted. The notches in the keys have to line up with the wards. The easy way around this problem is to just file one very large notch down the entire length of the key on both sides so that only the skinny part in the middle is left, hence the term "skeleton key." Is there a real locksmith amongst us who could confirm this? I'll bet a locksmith would starve in Mayberry, as most folks probably don't lock their doors. Paul Mulik Sent from my U.S. Cellular BlackBerry® smartphone _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
