DETAINER DISC LOCKING SYSTEM WHICH FORMS A DEVIATED PICKING PATH

A locking system (10) has a lock cylinder (22) rotatable within a lock housing (16) and a side bar (20) movable relative to channels (48, 34) within the lock cylinder (22) and lock housing (16) between locked and released conditions of the lock cylinder (22). An idler block (24) within the lock cylinder (22) has a key channel (26) receiving a key (12) therein so that the key (12) and idler block (24) rotate together relative to the lock cylinder (22). Annular detainer discs (18) are received between the idler block (24) and the lock cylinder (22), each having an outer gate channel (102) and an inner key bit (106) such that keyed surfaces of the key (12) engage the key bits (106) when rotated to align the gate channels (102) with the side bar (20) and enable the release of the side bar (20) to unlock the cylinder (22) relative to the housing (16). A stationary shield (36) may be fixed relative to the housing (16), about which the idler block (24) rotates to restrict access to the detainer discs (18).