Cylinders

Cylinders are a general term used to describe anything that a key can be put into to access a door. There are many types of cylinders used within the commercial/ industrial applications:

​- Conventional  - Used in Lever/ Knob Locksets

​- Rim - Used with Exit Devices and their associated Outside Trims

​- Mortise - Used with Mortise Locksets, Exit Devices

​- Interchangeable Core - Can be used with all of the above, but are designated by either a factory specific LFIC (Sargent, Yale/ Medeco {Accentra}, Corbin Russwin), or the more common SFIC {BEST} style. 

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In most cases, cylinders are 6 Pin (meaning the keys used in the cylinder have 6 cuts), but in some cases 5 Pin or 7 Pin keys are used. This question typically comes up when referencing Interchangeable Core cylinders and housings.