PDP8 key (Was: Text encoding Babel.

Jon Elson elson at pico-systems.com
Fri Nov 30 22:47:44 CST 2018


On 11/30/2018 09:53 PM, Guy Dunphy via cctalk wrote:
>
> How come there are 8? The lock only has 7 pins.
>
Those are the 8 possible DEPTHS of the grooves cut into the key.
So, that gives a possible combinations of 8 to the 7th 
power, I think.
These depths correspond (with an offset) to the lengths of 
the tumblers (pins) in the lock.
So, if you know what the length of a tumbler is, you can add 
the offset and figure out what depth groove to cut in the key.

Jon


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