Issue 4, Spring 2012 - Riverland Community College

We were ready to give up on our plans, but we decided to try the key on other outside doors. We walked
around the college through the snow from door to door trying our key. It failed in every door. They had
changed the master key configuration in some unknown way. What frustration!
There was only one door left to try, that of the heating plant. The heating plant was a small separate building a short
distance from the rest of the college, but we knew from our previous explorations it was connected via a tunnel. We
went up to the door expecting our key to fail again. We inserted the key and turned it. It worked! Whatever mechanism
the administration used to change the master key, they had forgotten the heating plant. We were in!
We didn't go any further than trying the heating plant door. We knew we had access to the entire college via the utility
tunnels. Now we had to prepare for the assault. We also knew the brother on the student council was correct. There was
some internal mechanism in the locks that allowed for changing the master key. We wanted to know how it worked. We
believed we could discover it by taking apart another lock. We could then make a new master key matching the new
configuration. This was the first step in the prank we had planned.
We went home and loaded a tool box with a collection of tools, including a micrometer, notebook, flashlights, work
light, spanner wrench, masking tape, and tunnel door opener. We also brought a pair of cheap two-way radios. A third
participant agreed to park on a street alongside the college and alert us if anyone such as maintenance personnel,
administrators, or police should appear to investigate.
It was about midnight as we arrived at the heating plant door and quickly let ourselves in. The door opened onto a small
grated platform near the ceiling of the building. From that vantage point, we could look over the entire heating plant
since the upper level was essentially empty. A stairway led down one wall to the main floor a dozen or so feet below
ground level where the boilers, pumps, ducts, piping, and other equipment were installed. We set up a small work area
on top of a large duct, which was at the right height, spread out our tools, and drew up chairs from the maintenance person's
desk. We quickly discovered the radios were of no use as their range was insufficient, so we went outside and
asked Participant 3 to join us.
We first had to obtain another lock to take apart. We needed a lock in which our original master key did not work which
meant the lock's master key configuration had been changed. We went up the small staircase to the tunnel door that led
into the main building and started into the tunnels. We knew our way around since the tunnels followed the main
hallways. We came to a side tunnel which led to a tunnel trapdoor in a classroom. We easily opened the door with the
lever, hoisted ourselves into the classroom, and were inside the darkened college.
To obtain the required lock, we had to find a door that was ajar because the doorknobs could only be removed from the
inside. It took some time since most doors were closed and locked and our original key didn’t work in them. Some that
were ajar still had the old master key configuration and were of no use. Eventually, we found a door ajar which our
master key would not open. We quickly unscrewed the inside collar with the spanner wrench and removed both knobs.
We went back through the tunnel trap-door from which we had entered and worked our way back to the heating plant.
The tunnels had dirt floors and were only a bit more than four feet high, so we had to bend over quite low to make one's
way through them as piping hung from the tunnel ceiling.
Once back at the heating plant, we set about dismantling the lock. We were determined to be extra careful this time so
there would be no surprises. We proceeded as before removing pins from one hole at a time, measuring them with the
micrometer, recording their lengths, and sticking them on a strip of masking tape. We expected to see the three tiny ball
bearings when we got to the sixth hole but they weren't there. We had removed all the pins, but no ball bearings
appeared. Had we made a mistake? Would we be able to make the new master key?
It seemed impossible the bearings had been removed from all the locks. That would have been a monumental task. Now
that all the pins were out, we slid the plug out of the outer cylinder and the three bearings fell out! How could this be?
Where could they have been if not in the last pin hole where they were when we dismantled the first lock last summer?
We examined the plug closely. There were two small drilled pockets, one on either side of the sixth hole. Suddenly, the
master key changing mechanism dawned on us!
By inserting a special key and twisting it from side to side, the master key combination could be changed once and only
once. The special key aligned the pins in the sixth hole, so the ball bearings were just above the plug. Of course, all the
other pins had to align as well to permit the plug to turn. Moving the key from side to side caused the ball bearings to
drop into the tiny pockets on either side of the sixth pin hole. The master key slot for the sixth hole was then different by
exactly the diameter of the ball bearings.
Page 8
Now that we understood the lock completely, it was relatively easy to make the new master key. We clamped a key
“Prank” continued on Page 9