Abloy Company is part of the ASSA Abloy group of security companies. They have been manufacturing security products since 1907 from their home office in Finland. Today they have distributors and authorized service centers around the world. They also have Abloy owned offices in most major countries.
Abloy offers different types of locks designed for many different types of industries. Locks such as door, cam, deadbolt locks and padlocks to name a few. Some of the industries they serve are education, healthcare, government and retail. Their locks for doors are widely used in Scandinavian and European Countries where high security locks are widely accepted and used.
Abloy locks are different due to their “Rotating Disc” locking principle. This locking principle uses brass discs that come together to form a locking stack. These are designed to match the discs with cuts key. Due to this design there can be over one million lock codes available. The key does not look like a conventional key and you won’t find these at the big box stores or hardware stores.
These are considered a high security locks due to their construction, key control and patented protection for the key and keyway. Distributors and service centers have contractual agreements with Abloy to maintain a high level of key control. Abloy service centers have additional training to provide extensive assembly services and a higher level of key control and key cutting services.
Abloy offer extreme environmental protection from moisture, salt spray, freezing, dirt, sand and other materials. This is due to the fact that they do not have locking pins or springs that traditional locks have. With traditional locks, dirt and other foreign material can get trapped in the pin chambers or cause the locking springs to fail which will cause the lock to malfunction. Also, with traditional locks, condensation or moisture can get into the pin chambers and cause the lock to malfunction in freezing weather.
They offer patented protection on the keyway and key. The first and last discs are called the profile discs, these are designed to match a particular key. This creates the keyway that Abloy then patents in the U.S. and worldwide. Abloy has now embraced electronic locks that offer both convenience and enhanced security by the use of electronic verification. The electronic keys are designed to open mechanical locks as well as the new electronic locks giving Abloy locks great versatility.
In future articles I will highlight other major lock manufacturers.
