Keychain

A keychain or key chain is a small chain, usually made from metal or plastic, that connects a small item to a keyring. The length of a keychain allows an item to be used more easily than if connected directly to a keyring. Some keychains allow one or both ends the ability to rotate, keeping the keychain from becoming twisted, while the item is being used. A keychain can also be a connecting link between a keyring and the belt of an individual. It is usually employed by personnel whose job demands frequent use of keys, such as a security guard, prison officer, janitor, or retail store manager. The chain is often retractable, and therefore may be a nylon rope, instead of an actual metal chain. The chain ensures that the keys remain attached to the individual using them, makes accidental loss less likely, and saves on wear and tear on the pockets of the user.

A keychain can also be a short chain used to link together a number of keys or other items. Sometimes keychains are even hung on walls.

What to call a keychain

The spelling dispute, key chain vs. keychain is no closer to coming to a conclusion. Spell checkers and dictionaries do not recognize the word "keychain," however keychain collectors, and many other people prefer to use the term as one complete word, "keychain." There are many other terms that all refer to keychain as well. These include key ring, key holder, key tag, and key fob.

Importance of Keychains

Keychains are commonly used to promote businesses. A standard advertising key chain will carry the businesses name and contact information and oftentimes a logo. The most popular advertising keychains are shaped like a "number 1" to imply the quality of the business that is advertising. Other popular shapes are a house, owl and squares or rectangles. In the 1950s and 1960s with the improvement of plastic manufacturing techniques, promotional items including keychains became more unique. Businesses could place their names on promotional keychains that were three dimensional for less expensive than the standard metal keychains. Keychains are small and inexpensive enough to become promotional items for larger national companies that might give them out by the millions. For example, with the launch of a new movie or television show, those companies might partner with food companies to provide a character keychain in each box of cereal etc. Keychains that currently hold keys are an item that is never long misplaced by the owner. Many keychains also offer functions that the owner wants easily accessible as well. These include an army knife, bottle opener, an electronic organizer, scissors, address book, family photos, nail clipper, pill case and even pepper spray. An electronic key finder is also a useful item found on many keys that will beep when summoned for quick finding when misplaced. Keychains are one of the most common souvenir items. They are very inexpensive and small to store both while traveling home and don't take up much room in a home. Keychains can act as a reminder of the trip since they can be carried around during everyday life. They also are gender and age neutral and can appeal to many types of vacation shoppers.

Costs

The costs of keychains vary widely depending on their purpose. Advertising keychains begin at only a few cents a piece to a few dollars each. They are normally purchased in large quantities often over 500 at a time. Keychains are found in retail stores to represent things such as television shows, movies, video games, nostaligia, hobbies, interests and personalities. These keychains range from a dollar up to ten dollars and more. Electronic keychains including games and small organizers start at a few dollars and can be up to 50 US dollars. Other keychain electronics including cameras, digital photo frames and USB drives start around ten USD and can go over 100 USD. Souvener keychains are one of the most popular keychains that sell. These are keychains that represent a trip or a location that a person is visiting. These most commonly range from under a dollar to 10 dollars. Unlike most collections, keychains don't hold their value as well as other collections. A standard keychain that was purchaed for five dollars new is oftentimes only worth a quarter once it has been owned regardless of condition.

Highly Collectible Item

Keychain collectors can be found in people from all walks of life, all ages and from all over world. The most popular focused keychain collections are advertising, souvener, monument, popular characters and nastalgia related items. These are just the most common, since keychains appeal to many different types of people so does collection focus. Many keychain collections are built mostly on second hand keychains and are found at Yard/garage sales, church tag sales, auction sites and from friends. Unlike most hobbies like gardening or collecting stamps, there aren't many clubs that give collectors a chance to meet and discuss their interests. http://www.keychaincollector.com is one of the few groups world wide that focuses on the interest of collecting keychains. Collectors display and store their keychains in several different ways. Some collections are small enough that the collector can place all of their keychains on their standard key ring. Some larger collections can be stored and displayed on dowels, cork boards, tool racks, on large link chains, in display cases, hung on walls, displayed on Christmas trees. Some collections are large enough that entire rooms are dedicated to the keychain collection.

The Guinness Book of world records currently holds the world record of keychains at over 41,000 and can be viewed at http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records/modern_society/collections/largest_collection_of_keychains.aspx. This is the secord record added to the books. Other collectors have entered the world record books with higher numbers and pending approval this record is subject to change.

Keychain items

Items commonly attached via a keychain or keyring include:

* Bottle openers
* Compasses
* Credit cards
* Digital sound recorders
* Electronic games
* Flashlights
* Keyrings
* Lanyards
* Laser pointers
* Lighters
* Logos, slogans, or phrases
* Loyalty program cards
* Memo pads
* Ornamental or decorative items
* Personal sirens
* Pill boxes
* Photos (photo holders)
* Rabbit's feet
* Religious items (e.g., crosses Traveller's Prayers or hamsas)
* Tape measures
* Text labels
* Thermometers (analog and digital)
* Tools (e.g., Swiss Army knives)
* Security tokens
* USB flash drives
* Vehicle remote keyless system fobs
* Watches and stopwatches
* Whistles

Computer keychains

By analogy to the physical object, the terms "keychain" and "keyring" are often used for software that stores cryptographic keys. Mac OS X uses a password storage system called Keychain. GNU Privacy Guard stores known keys on a keyring.

Keychain was first introduced in a series of IBM developerWorks articles.Fact|date=September 2008

ee also

*Key fob