10 Years Ago
In April 2012, Locksmith Ledger highlighted distributors Security Lock Distributors (now SECLOCK) and Boyle and Chase (now part of Top Notch). We also interviewed CLARK Security President Susan Kuruvilla. CLARK later was purchased by Anixter (now Wesco). We certainly have seen a great deal of consolidation in the distributor market in the past 10 years. IDN’s Arnie Goldman shared his story about growing up in the locksmith distribution business. Locksmith Ledger also covered President Barack Obama’s visit to Master Lock headquarters. In his “Fire Door Locking Essentials” article, Tim O’Leary warned that inappropriately deployed locking hardware can endanger lives. Jerry Levine used A-1 Security’s BUL-3 jig to retrofit a knob lock to a leverset. HES 7000 Series electric strikes were featured, and ABLOY introduced its Protec2 lock system. Tim O’Leary examined the effect of closers, request-to-exit devices and electric strikes on door control.
20 Years Ago
Jerry Levine described the most popular lock installation. Tim O'Leary described the How and Why of Access Control. Tom Gillespie suggested how to make sure your customers get the access control system they want. Gillespie also reported on wireless CCTV systems. Jerry Levine outlined various types of electric strikes and when to use them. Dick Zunkel offered electronic access solutions for retail stores. Jerry Levine described a new single cylinder SARGENT classroom lock. A Ford transponder article listed the Ford key changes from Pats I to Pats II to Pats III and I-Pats. Gale Johnson looked at the profit possibilities in repairing antique auto locks. Richard Formica serviced the locks on an antiquated Austin American and a Ducati cycle. Tony Vigil, High Tech Tools, showed how to unlock a Ford Explorer. Tom Gillespie offered tips on dealing with employees. Jim Glazier looked at the future of locksmithing. Tiny fit keys to a monster Hummer.
In the Field: Keys Tell the Story
Not every job in a locksmithing career is straightforward.
By Michael C. Tritel
Unless keys have been melted down into scrap brass, they’re always somewhere. During a 40-year career in locksmithing, they also have led me to some interesting situations and characters.
Once, a customer told me that a crow flew off with her keys. Lost car keys often have been found hanging in the passenger side door lock. (Maybe that’s why they stopped putting locks on that side.) An auto salesman called to have us make keys for a used car, and I found them hanging in the ignition. Did I charge him for a service call? Well, he already felt dumb, so yes. Here are a few other odd jobs that involve missing keys:
At Lake Tahoe, you often could see a boater’s keys clearly on the bottom through 20 feet of water. I got so many of those jobs that I had an actual policy: I don’t row.
Customers aren’t the only ones who lose keys. I lost the key to my mother’s condo, then found it two years later in a pair of dress pants that I would have sworn I never wore. I once lost a masterkey in a patch of lawn 20 feet wide between my van and an office building. A UPS driver helped me to find it, saving me from rekeying the building again. This one takes the cake, though: A customer told me that they finally found that lost motorcycle key, six months after I made them a new one. Where was it? At the bottom of a trash can that they emptied weekly, stuck there on a piece of gum!
A young woman called and told me that her grandmother had died and had left her a car that had no keys. The Toyota Camry was in the garage of a fairly expensive home, and the woman had two toddlers with her. It turns out that the woman stole the car from her parents, and I made her the keys. I found that out two weeks later when the local sheriff had me pick her out of a lineup. I couldn’t identify her though, because the six women they chose looked like sextuplets. The parents identified her well enough, it turns out.
Read the full article online at www.locksmithledger.com/21257226
