Medeco (Company)

From Lockenpedia

Medeco is a maker of high security locks and was founded in 1968. It is based in Salem, Virginia, and is a subsidiary of the Swedish ASSA Abloy Group. The name "Medeco" comes from "Mechanical Development Company" from when the company was a small die and tool shop.

Medeco Locks

Medeco locks are unique for their dual action pin tumblers. Not only do the pins move up and down vertically, they also twist. There is a slot in the side of each pin, when all pins are properly twisted to one of three positions it allows a sidebar mechanism to release and allow the plug to turn. For someone wanting to pick a Medeco lock, merely raking the pins will generally not open the lock.

The second generation locks released by Medeco in 1985 are called Biaxial. Biaxial meaning that there are three positions fore and three positions aft, for a total of 6 'twisting' positions. These locks also offered double cuts on keys, when combined with the biaxial pins allow higher numbers of combinations and larger master keying capability.

In 1995 a new product line called Keymark was released to enter the low cost market. It was a line of Small format Interchangeable Cores (SFIC) that lacked Medeco's typical high security features.

1997 marked the release of Medeco's SiteLine products which added electronic components to it's product lineup. The latest generation of locks from Medeco is the M3 line. Medeco also makes low security locks that have 'typical' pin tumblers that only require vertical movement to operate the lock.