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hardware&security
Zedlock ‘Machinery Innovator of the
Year’ finalist in British Farming Awards
Bruce Robertson’s invention, the
Zedlock has reached the finals in the
British Farming Awards 2014.
Bruce of Strood Farm, Petworth, West
Sussex, came up with the design for
agricultural gates in December 2010,
making a prototype at his farm in January
2011. The device uses a sliding bolt and
deadlock combination offering increased
security for farm premises.
A friend who is a patent lawyer helped
him with the patent application, and in
September 2011 the first Zedlocks went
on sale.
“I invented the Zedlock because I was
looking for a more secure alternative
to a padlock and chain. In the yard at
the farm I have an Ifor Williams trailer
amongst other equipment, and I was only
too aware how easy it was to crop a chain
with bolt cutters, or smash the padlock
with a hammer,” he says. “However, in
creating the Zedlock I also solved two
other problems; locks freezing and losing
the padlock. Because the lock mechanism
in a Zedlock has brass levers, it is much
less prone to freezing than a padlock,
and being integral to the gate, there is no
chance of losing the padlock.”
In August 2013 the patent was granted on
the Zedlock. Following this he approached
a number of local friends and invited them
to invest in Zedlock. Ten friends, amongst
them farmers and shoot owners, invested
a total of £85,000 to help fund the next
stage of expansion. In December 2013 he
introduced a number of enhancements to
the Zedlock to improve its’ usability and
durability.
Zedlock now offers an Industrial range
- with Zedlocks to suit frames from 10mm
to 80mm diameter supplied from stock
and specials to suit gate frames of up to
150mm being made to order. Upcoming
developments include locks for shipping
containers and potentially an automated
version.
Zedlocks are made in England and all
the final assembly work is carried out in
the barn at Strood Farm. Prototypes are
still made in the barn and tested on farm
before going into production.
www.zedlock.com
INNOVATIVE
SOLUTION
FROM
WINDOWPARTS
Double glazing became
popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s,
but with many windows
and doors being made from
PVCu the issue of security
also increased. Design flaws
resulted in many doors being
compromised so multipoint
locks were developed