Alien Contraptions
One of the things I find very appealing about travelling to a new place is observing the type of products they uses in their everyday life. By this, I mean the type of cars, buses, chairs, tables, cutleries, flatware, glasses, shower heads, etc. It must be the engineer in me as I love studying designs.
I am currently in Amsterdam, Netherlands and among many things, I took pictures (with the little time I am given; this is eating into my sleep time actually) of two objects to illustrate my point.
So the first picture, make a guess what this wierd eloborate electric powered object is.....
It is a door stop that works on electro-magnet with a on-off switch.
This is an easy one as its obvious from the picture. I find it interesting that the Ving card is this plastic card with holes punched precisely where the matching pins are on the on locking mechanism. I bet if I trace out the holes, I can duplicate these cards quite easily.
posted by BlackMamba @ 3:22 PM
3 Comments:
Whats the Ving card, bro?
Vingcard is a swedish company that makes locks. This is what is written on their website:
VingCard's success can be attributed to an ideal combination of tradition and technology. Our parent company began making high-quality door locks in 1864. In the 135+ years since, VingCard has been responsible for transforming lock-making from a simple craft into multi-billion dollar, high-tech industry. Although our product line has expanded greatly, guestroom locks continue to be the core of our business and we are still setting the standards for the industry.
Following the merger in November 1994 between VingCard's former owners, Abloy Security, and the Swedish Securitas Lock Group, VingCard is now part of the largest independent lock group in the world. The parent company, ASSA ABLOY AB , is a public company listed on the Swedish Stock Exchange.
A history of continuous innovation
In the late 1970's, the world was in an era of rapid change. Technology was becoming a critical part of every business segment, opening new doors of opportunity and creating entire new markets. During that time, VingCard recognized the hotel industry's need for more effective and efficient hotel lock system. The company began diligently working on a solution for this need and, in 1979, introduced the world's first recodable card lock. This single invention completely revolutionized hotel security and electronic locking system. Since that time, we have continued to set the standard for each new generation of hotel lock systems. To date, the company has been awarded more than 60 patents. Notable inventions include the punch-hole keycard, the recodable cylinder, the anti-friction latch and the electronic card lock.
There is another Swedish company that makes a HELL of a money with simple mechanical designs. It's Tetrapak. I will write about that some other time.
I'm impressed! tHANK YOU
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