Door keyhole

Door keyhole (also known as a escutcheon tube) is an elevator device used to unlock the landing doors interlock in elevator maintenance or in the event of an emergency like entrapment, usually preformed by elevator technicians and firefighters.

Most elevators have their door keyhole located on one door panel and aligned to the edge of the door, while some others may be located on the upper door jamb (like modern day Schindler (mainly Sematic Group), Kone (including Wittur Group) and TK elevators). Some of them may only be available in the highest or lowest landings.

Different elevator manufacturers have their own keyhole type, except all are triangle-shaped or drop key for some country code.

The information on this page is for educational purposes only. DO NOT enter an elevator shaft unless you are a skilled elevator technician. Not only can it be extremely dangerous, but unauthorized entry to an elevator shaft is illegal in most countries.

List of door keyhole shape by elevator manufacturers

This list is for automatic doors only, manual doors are not included.

• Doors open requires a key - used in older Sabiem elevators.

• Doors open requires a "fork" - used in older Fujitec elevators before the early 1980s.

• Key-shaped - used in most older Hitachi, GoldStar, and LG elevators.

1970-1980s Hitachi Key-shaped door keyhole.

1994 LG elevators with key-shaped door keyhole.

• C-shaped - used in 1980s and sometimes 1990s Hyundai elevators.

1980s Hyundai C-shaped door keyhole (bottom right)

• L-shaped - used in most Sigma (before 2012) and LG-OTIS elevators (from 2000 to 2005).

2011 Sigma L-shaped door keyhole.

• S-shaped - used in some 1970s Mitsubishi elevators.

1970s Mitsubishi S-shaped door keyhole.

• T-shaped - used in most Mitsubishi elevators from the 1970s to present day.

1995 Mitsubishi T-shaped door keyhole.

T-shaped door keyhole on a 2000s Mitsubishi elevator.

• Triangle-shaped - used in Fujitec since late-1980s, most Kone, Guangri since 1990s, some Hyundai, some Sigma since mid-2000s, all non-American Schindler since 1960s, and all non-proprietary elevator door components.

Modern Hyundai elevator triangle door keyhole, used since in the 2000s.

1980s-1990s Schindler triangle-shaped door keyhole (bottom right).

2016 Fujitec triangle-shaped door keyhole.

1980's EPL-KONE

1980's Express

1980's Express

1990's Schindler

Wittur's door component triangle-shaped door keyhole on 2004 Otis Hydraulic

Fermator's door component triangle-shaped door keyhole on Schindler 3300

• U-shaped - used in older Express Lift (or GAL), Elevators Pty. Ltd., American Schindler and GEC-branded elevators.

Old Express Elevator

Old Express Elevator

Express Elevator U-Key hole, turned sideways.

• Square U-Shaped - Used in O&K and Keighley lifts in the UK, and very few 1990s LG elevators.

LG elevator U-shaped door keyhole, located on the upper door frame.

• V-shaped - used in some 1960s and 1970s Otis elevators in the UK. This keyhole has a small rectangular metal plate.

1970's OTIS

1960's OTIS

1960s-1970s Otis V shaped keyhole, commonly found in the UK.

List of standard escutcheon key

Drop key

Drop key is one of the industrial standard escutcheon key in North America, also used for some older used in some 1960s and 1970s Otis and Toshiba elevators in Hong Kong, China before the standardized triangle-shaped escutcheon key established.

Elevator drop key (authorized personel only)

Elevator drop key emergency holder.

GAL MO drop key

OTIS 3 Section Drop Key

OTIS 4 section drop key

The hole for a Drop Key on a 1930's Waygood-Otis elevator

Triangle-shaped

Triangle-shaped escutcheon key is a industrial standard in Hong Kong, China since late-1970s, with its standardized size. This is now the standard elevator door keyhole for many countries, including the UK and New Zealand. All Elevators in the countries that were built after a certain time are required to have triangle keyholes for all landing doors. Interestingly, however, Elevator manufacturing/maintenance companies are not required to replace the door locks/keyholes as part of modernization - even when the doors themselves are replaced.

Triangle-shaped door keyhole is the standard for some countries (Hitachi elevators in Hong Kong, used be key-shaped).

Otis elevator landing doors with triangle-shaped door keyhole to apply the standardized requirement in Hong Kong, China.

Mitsubishi elevator landing doors with triangle-shaped door keyhole to apply the standardized requirement in Hong Kong, China. Other countries may use the T-shaped door keyhole instead of triangle-shaped.

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