Rekeyable lock system

A rekeyable lock cylinder comprising:

• a lock cylinder body;
• a plug assembly rotatably disposed in a lock cylinder body, the plug assembly comprising:
• a plug body having a key face and a keyway extending into the plug body from the key face;
• a plurality of key followers positioned along the keyway and being linearly movable relative to the plug body, wherein the key followers are biased toward a home position;
• a plurality of first locking elements linearly movable with respect to the plug body, wherein each first locking element of the plurality first locking elements includes a reduced diameter portion rotatably connected with a respective key follower of the plurality of key followers to move linearly concomitant with the respective key follower, wherein each of the first locking elements includes a portion with a polygonal shape movable between a non-rotatable position received in an interface cavity defined in the plug body and a rotatable position out of the interface cavity;
• a second locking element operatively associated with the plug body and the lock cylinder body;
• and
• wherein each of the first locking elements are selectively rotatable when the polygonal portion is moved to the rotatable position to angularly position a selected unlocking cavity of a plurality of unlocking cavities defined in each first locking element to be aligned with the second locking element to facilitate rekeying of the rekeyable lock cylinder.

A rekeyable lock cylinder comprising:

• a lock cylinder body;
• a plug assembly rotatably disposed in a lock cylinder body, the plug assembly comprising:
• a plug body having a key face and a keyway extending into the plug body from the key face;
• a plurality of key followers positioned along the keyway and being linearly movable relative to the plug body, wherein the key followers are biased toward a home position;
• and
• a plurality of first locking elements movable with respect to the plug body, wherein each first locking element of the plurality first locking elements is rotatably connected with a respective key follower of the plurality of key followers to move linearly concomitant with the respective key follower;
• a second locking element operatively associated with the plug body and the lock cylinder body;
• and
• wherein each of the first locking elements are selectively rotatable to facilitate rekeying of the rekeyable lock cylinder.

A method of rekeying a rekeyable lock cylinder, comprising the steps of:

• providing a plug assembly rotatably disposed in a lock cylinder body, wherein the plug assembly includes a plurality of interface members associated with a plurality of key followers disposed in the plug assembly, wherein the plurality of interface members are linearly movable along an axis transverse to a longitudinal axis of the plug assembly;
• rotating one or more of the interface members about the axis transverse to the longitudinal axis of the plug assembly from a first angular position to a second angular position;
• and
• maintaining an angular position of the interface members.