common scenario, you shut the frontdoor and the instant it is shut, you realise that your keys are on the inside.
this lock gives you just the one chance not to be locked out. one way that this might work is if there is a plate on the inside of the door jamb that has two positions. when the moveable metal part of the lock hits the plate the first time, it hits a smooth surface and the lock does not engage. on opening the door for the second bang, the plate descends to the bottom position and when the door is banged closed the second time, the lock engages into the usual depression, holding the door closed.
over-riding the double bang by manual manipulation of the metal plate would allow people sleeping in the house not to be disturbed by all this banging.-- po, Nov 22 2003 Kittens http://www.blogjam....ute_little_kittens/Aww, how cute. [galukalock, Oct 05 2004] Intelligence test bra http://www.halfbake...igence_20test_20braJust like [sophocles]'s idea, with just one difference... [hippo, Oct 05 2004] Ah, [po], it sounds the bitter voice of experience to me...?-- Fishrat, Nov 22 2003 are you writing this from an internet café, [po] ?-- neilp, Nov 22 2003 Get a lock which requires a key to lock from the outside.-- waugsqueke, Nov 22 2003 I have a mortice lock as well, waugs. but most front doors here have a yale lock which slams shut.-- po, Nov 22 2003 Some front doors are metal, how 'bout using a church key.
Extraterrestrials never get locked out of others houses. Maybe we could start up a service. +-- sartep, Nov 22 2003 po, does this mean you are a mortice dancer?-- normzone, Nov 22 2003 no, merely mortal.-- po, Nov 23 2003 This happens to me all the time.-- galukalock, Nov 23 2003 I just locked myself out of my new place. Had to resort to a milk carton to get in. This would have saved me. [+]-- Klaatu, Nov 23 2003 excuses, excuses!
milk carton?-- po, Nov 24 2003 if you want kittens, jutta, you shall have kittens!
sometimes the problem is, that the wind catches the door and whoosh! too bad if you are scantily dressed in winter - then I *would* have kittens..-- po, Nov 24 2003 It's bad enough when you're driving away from home and after 5 miles or so you think "Did I shut the door?". Now you'll have to think "Did I shut the door twice?". Nightmare!-- dobtabulous, Nov 24 2003 look you don't HAVE to have the flipping thing installed, dob. its for idiots like me who regularly get locked out.-- po, Nov 24 2003 Unfortunately [po] I am both one of those idiots like you and also one who can't resist that nagging voice urging me to go back and check that I locked the door. I can't win either way!-- dobtabulous, Nov 24 2003 How about a nudity detector that prevents the door from locking if it senses that you are anything less than fully dressed?-- AO, Nov 24 2003 Yeah, cos if you're naked, where are you going to keep your keys, huh? [Benfrost] you are not required to answer.-- squeak, Nov 24 2003 [squeak] - on your key ring of course!-- dobtabulous, Nov 24 2003 My neighbor's door has a keypad on it, similar to the ones that auto manufacturers put on luxury cars in the early nineties.-- Condiment, Nov 24 2003 po: if you have to bang the door twice, I would say you're getting pretty desperate.-- DrCurry, Nov 24 2003 It was fairly inconventient, but effective how '80s import cars required you to lift the door handle as you shut it to have the car door lock ... perhapse somehting along those lines could be effective too ... nice idea, [po]!-- Letsbuildafort, Nov 24 2003 That lifting the door handle thing never prevented me from locking my keys in my old Honda, because after about 1 week of owning that car, I would lift the handle without even thinking about it.-- AO, Nov 24 2003 //look you don't HAVE to have the flipping thing installed, dob. its for idiots like me who regularly get locked out//
You're not an idiot po, you're just forgetful, like so many-where was I again?-- friendless-person, Nov 24 2003 how sweet - you have made a friend :)
hey drop bakesperson a line about your forgotten password. sort it out once and for all!-- po, Nov 24 2003 Dear Po, perhaps you would like to adopt my system. I never EVER close the door unless I have my keys in my hand and can see the front door key. If I don't have the key in my hand, I don't close the door. Even when I know I have them in my pocket, I always get them out and clock the relevant piece of metal. I've been doing it almost long enough for it to be a habit now. I sometimes feel stupid, but not as stupid as I would feel locking myself out!-- egbert, Nov 24 2003 well there is always the wind blowing the door shut scenario but the last time I locked myself out, my mind was distracted by the thought of smiley staples or something or other and I looked down at my bunch of keys at the very moment the door banged shut and they were ... my car keys. Duh!-- po, Nov 24 2003 When we lived in Cambridge, we lived in a flat where the front door did not lock automatically, but had to be locked with a key. We never did manage to lock ourselves out of that particular place, but we did go out and leave it unlocked once or twice.-- DrCurry, Nov 24 2003 Shut up all your banging! Bloody noisy neighboors-- The Kat, Nov 24 2003 [Throws old boot at The Kat.]-- DrCurry, Nov 24 2003 got a problem with banging? poor Kat!, you OK?-- po, Nov 24 2003 I thought cat's enjoyed...no, no, must be good.-- egbert, Nov 24 2003 [po] - you're not the only one. As to ye naysayers, there must be something about the sound of a door latching that triggers the realisation that your keys are on the other side.
Whether it's some Pavlovian association, or the more general feeling of finality is a critical point - if the former, then this will work, if the latter, then it won't. (Well, if you install this after years of forgetting your keys, then it will work, because the association will have been made by then. But if you're used to it, then it won't.)-- Detly, Nov 24 2003 I get the whole "Did I shut the door?" thing too. Most times I can't remember opening the door either. I generally conclude that I did it all without really thinking about it, rather than contemplate the more worrying "walk through walls" scenario.-- -alx, Nov 25 2003 The reason you forget is that you're not conscious. Lookup the concept of a "basic act", where you can do complex things like "drive home" without being conscious of it. What you need is not another repeatable thing to become totally unconscious of, but rather a "game door" that always asks you question (like simple math) and you must answer it to lock the door. This would give your consciousness a fair chance to participate.-- sophocles, Nov 25 2003 [sophocles] - post it. :) (It's different enough from the original idea, I think.)-- Detly, Nov 25 2003 I always leave the door at the back yard unlocked so I can get in. It means that I have to walk around the house, but its not so bad.-- kbecker, Nov 26 2003 [sophocles] - already baked, with just one minor difference - see link. :-)-- hippo, Nov 27 2003 // The reason you forget is that you're not conscious //
No, the reason I forget is because I'm stupid and have shot my short term memory to pieces <grin>.
<runs back to front door after driving down the street> Now did I remember to solve that differential equation before I left?... </blah>-- dobtabulous, Nov 27 2003 I just had a marvelous idea. Why not just never close your doors?(weather permitting) Then you would never have to worry about losing your keys, getting locked out or worrying if you left the door open.-- andrew1, Sep 27 2005 Maybe you were meant to lock yourself out; it could have been fate doing something huge very inconspicuously. Sounds silly but it is possible, I moved over five thousand miles because I locked myself out.-- stilgar, May 04 2007 a bit extreme, I would have thought!-- po, May 04 2007 Very. It is amazing to think that something so lifechanging was the result of something so mundane.-- stilgar, May 05 2007 Why not a voice interface:
ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO CLOSE THIS SELF LOCKING DOOR AND DELETE ALL YOUR CURRENT WORK?
SAY YES FOR YES AND NO FOR NO.-- pashute, Jun 02 2010 And next stage get one free with advertisements.
"Your door will be locked sponsored by the Cohen Grocery. Always check that your milk is fresh. Do you wish to continue? (Say YES for yes and NO for no)"
Followed by the IBM one: "Your door will be locked sponsored by the Cohen Grocery, 9923358. Always check that your milk is fresh. Do you wish to continue? (Saying YES, will lock the door and all current content will be erased. Saying NO will cancel this action, and the door will be left unlocked. Saying CANCEL will stop this question from being asked, leaving the door in its former position so if the door was open, it will stay that way, but if it was closed it will be left in that position. Thank you for using IBM systems. The following minute of sound is intentionally left empty) - Followed by: "Are you sure you want to do this?-- pashute, Jun 02 2010 Why not just hide a key under the cracked terracotta planter underneath the kitchen window, like Beanie does? It's safe as long as no-one sees you putting it there.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Jun 03 2010 nearly 7 years along - //[21](neutral)// not really bothered - I gave my neighbour a set of keys for emergencies.
I do still quite like this though.-- po, Jun 03 2010 // Followed by the IBM one //
Followed by the Microsoft one: "An error has occured. Everything you were, are, or ever will be, will be deleted. [OK} ?"-- 8th of 7, Jun 03 2010 [8th_of_7] Not to worry. Slip a Linux live CD in the mail slot, reboot, and you'll be able to recover most of it.
(Especially fiendish, the way Microsoft uses unbalanced square/curly brackets, just to set our teeth on edge.)-- mouseposture, Jun 04 2010 random, halfbakery