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THE INSIDE STORY ON OUTSIDE-IN LOCK TOOLS
The best ideas often come about by chance. SIMON BARBER of OutsideIn Lock Tools tells us how it worked brilliantly for his business.
Outside-In Lock Tools began in Spring
2010, purely by accident, when I found
myself up against a particularly difficult
lockout that required a key to be turned
on the inside of an old wooden door.
Key-turners were the obvious answer,
but the key hadn’t been turned in years, so
they didn’t work. Being an old cottage, the
letterbox was pitch black inside and one
of the smallest imaginable. Determined to
stick to NDE ethics, I eventually managed
to turn the key through the letterbox,
though it took longer than I felt it should
have.
On the drive home, the thought
kept running through my head. ‘How
could the key have been turned more
easily?’ Looking around my workshop
for inspiration, I put together what was
to become the first ‘SideWinder’ from
an old handbrake cable and light bulb
fixing, which after testing proved to
work efficiently. The ‘SideWinder’ was
essentially an add-on to my favourite
lock tool, the Souber Letterbox Tool.
The ‘SideWinder’ enabled the turning of
keys, nightlatches, and thumbturns, and
featured a flexible axial drive, operated by
a handle at one end, with rotating grippers
at the other.
After a couple of months of using the
‘SideWinder’ and after meeting up with
,
some other locksmiths who were highly
enthusiastic about it, things began to take
off, with many of them placing orders
for ‘SideWinders.’ Feedback from them
proved that they found the tool as useful
as I did. A further development was a
special quick-fit ‘wishbone’ adaptor,
which made it possible to use the
‘SideWinder’ to open the Chubb 4L67.
Upon hearing that I was the inventor of
the tool, one of my Customers suggested
that it should be protected through the
Patent Office. This was essential they
informed me, so I contacted the IP
Office and protected and asserted as
my intellectual property the ‘flexible
DirectDrive’ for locksmiths, as this was not
an off-the-shelf drill drive, but something
unique. Since then, all our intellectual
property has been formally protected.
‘the most important tool
since the snapper’
Sales were steady, and locksmiths who
owned them were pleased with the fast,
easy entries that the ‘SideWinder’ offered.
It was even described by one locksmith
as “the most important tool since the
snapper.” This was high praise indeed!
At this point I was contacted by Duffells,
who had heard about the ‘SideWinder’
and wanted to stock them, and so with
my wife, Wendy, who has a history in
Engineering and Prototyping, we went
into full-scale production as ‘OutsideIn Lock