Brass keys emerge from casting with little in the way of burrs that need hand
work, unlike steel which will have burrs that will need to be ground and filed.
The casting of a brass key with a standard keying and a throat will need almost
no de-burring and will simply be polished in a sand drum. It has the advantage
of mot rusting and thus will not add rust to he steel lock mechanism. While
brass keys are softer than steel keys they are strong enough to move the
mechanism and if bent or broken generally easy to remove from the lock by
shaking the brass key part out of the lock because repeated use polishes the
throat and will slide off a steel pin.
Galvanized steel switch keys in use on the CB&Q during the war, but according
to my father the galvanized keys prove to be brittle, especially in the depths
of winter. This is almost everything I know about switch locks and keys.
Explained to me a few times before and after my father gave me his framed
collection of lock and keys and a check from CB&Q for 1 cent, a check he never
cashed.
respectively submitted,
Ed
________________________________________
From: CBQ@yahoogroups.com [CBQ@yahoogroups.com] on behalf of Michael Matalis
[mmatalis@sprynet.com]
Sent: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 10:38 PM
To: CBQ@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [CBQ] Switch Key Question
Probably for the same reason that many of my house keys are brass,
they are easy to cut. And if they are made badly, like the idiot who
set up my original front door key with a deep notch at its base, easy
to break too.
Thank you kindly,
Michael Matalis
Downers Grove IL
You can see my railroad photography blog at
http://www.chasingheavymetal.com/blog/
You can see my photos and my ugly mug at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/prairierailfan/collections/
On Apr 6, 2011, at 9:02 PM, qutlx1@aol.com<mailto:qutlx1%40aol.com> wrote:
> I handled the brass switch keys for years and never gave it a
> thought; why
> were the keys brass ? I understand why the locks were hardened steel
> but
> brass for the keys ?
>
> Like pennies were the keys made of steel during WWII ?
>
> The wear after decades of use on some is really significant.
>
> Leo Phillipp
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
> ------------------------------------
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
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