What does a determined burglar do when faced with a locked door? Many things have been done by many different burglars. One very simple, inconspicuous way to break into a house is to simply lean your shoulder into the door and shove. If they've got a deadbolt, kick it. It'll give. And it's a lot (ok, maybe not a lot) quieter than breaking a window.
This idea is intended to prevent somebody from doing this to your door.
A locking bar is an ancient idea. And it works VERY effectively. It's basically just a heavy bar across the door that you drop into hooks mounted in the wall to either side of the door.
The problem with a locking bar is that you have no way to lock/unlock it from the outside, which is part of its effectiveness.
What I'm proposing is a locking bar that is stowed above the door, and slides down into place on guide-rails. It has a cable attached to it, which is in turn attached to an electric motor (like a garage door opener) which is triggered by an outside lock.
To lock it from the outside, simply turn the key*, which causes the bar to fall unerringly (thanks to the guide-rails) into place. To unlock it, turn the key again and it is raised back up into stowed position by the cable/motor assembly.
*It doesn't have to be a turnkey. For maximum security, you'll probably want to go all the way with a palm-print scanner, retinal scanner, and DNA analyzer, but that could get pricey.-- 21 Quest, May 16 2007 I was under the impression that automatic garage doors were notoriously unreliable.
In any case, what are you supposed to do if there's a power cut?-- hidden truths, May 16 2007 This was actually baked some time ago by my dad. The door had bolts inside it which went into the top and bottom of the frame. There were 2 options, one where you lifted the handle to slide the bolts in place and then lock the door, the other where you could turn the key once for the normal lock and twice to wind the bolts into place.-- marklar, May 17 2007 Just rehang your door so it opens outward. That'll fool all the burglars trying to push it open.-- hippo, May 17 2007 Mark, several normal-sized deadbolts aren't the same as a locking bar, so your example doesn't make this baked.
Hippo.... nice idea.-- 21 Quest, May 17 2007 Hippo, thats Brilliant!-- evilpenguin, May 17 2007 Hippo - if I had a hat, I would take it utterly off to you.-- MaxwellBuchanan, May 17 2007 Put one of the hooks on upside down, and attach the bar to the back of the door, with a big skeleton type keyhole in the middle of the door, and a huge skeleton key. Turning the key causes the bar to turn into position, and you've successfully gotten medieval on those would be burglars... no fancy shmancy unreliable electric garage door openers to worry about there...-- ye_river_xiv, May 17 2007 [Hippo] - use Soss hinges - big ones - so no hinge pins show, and it'll still look like your door is hung to swing inward. The outward facing latch plate may still be a giveaway, but that's pretty subtle and difficult to eliminate.-- elhigh, May 23 2007 //what are you supposed to do if there's a power cut?//
Just put a small break-glass box near the door with a manual crank inside. If the glass is broken, an alarm goes off, detering burglars from using the crank to assist in penetrating the door.
For the owner, they could just turn the alarm off and with a key once inside.-- wolstech, Jun 07 2007 "Just put a small break-glass box near the door with a manual crank inside. If the glass is broken, an alarm goes off, detering burglars from using the crank to assist in penetrating the door."
Or, maybe a locked box, opened by the same key as the switch is activated by, with a crank inside?-- Dickcheney6, Dec 31 2009 Might be seen in the neighborhood as a 'blooding' challenge and therefore do the opposite of intended.-- wjt, Jan 01 2010 if you mount it so it pivots into place you could put a lever on the outside sou you could turn it and secure it on the inside with a jimmy proof lock. If you really want it to be secure though you could use a safe or vault lock package.-- RichardT, Jan 02 2010 I like the concept in that even if it does not give any extra protection, it will make the user feel much safer.-- Jscotty, Jan 04 2010 I would like this if it weren't so small. I reserve my bun for update clarifying that actual deadbolt is bigger than this.-- bungston, Jan 04 2010 I should note that the key itself should also be massive, and require two people to successfully use.-- bungston, Jan 04 2010 It should also have a big door knob to match.-- Jscotty, Jan 05 2010 random, halfbakery