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1 gate, need 2 different locks

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Topic: 1 gate, need 2 different locks
Posted By: iowallis
Subject: 1 gate, need 2 different locks
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 7:54pm

Have a gate, actually 2 gates that swing and meet in the middle, at the entrance to a field/wooded area. 

I need to have 2 different locks on it, a keyed lock for me, the person who farms the ground, and the utility company and a combination padlock for the people who hunt the grassy and wooded areas that I switch out every year.

As of now I hook the locks together so unlocking one will unlock the gate and leave the other lock locked. Inevitably (3 times so far) someone will not lock the locks together but lock the ends of the chain and leave one lock hanging on the chain and that lock, when unlocked will not open the gate.

Is there a type of latch (lack of a better word) that would allow 2 different locks yet allow the gate to be unlocked by only unlocking one lock?



Replies:
Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 7:56pm
Lock the locks to each other and to the chains at the end of the lock set, open any lock and chain is open regardless which one is opened. Instruct the Dopes as to HOW to lock them together, include a photo, they fail to do that and stop the program make them all find some place else to play. INCLUDING the utility, they are the ones that taught me that process.


Posted By: Hubert (Ga)engine7
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 8:20pm
Dave, you can't cure stupid but your suggestion comes close. One other solution is to use 3 short pieces of chain and place a lock between two of the pieces. They will need to be short enough that it will take all three sections to wrap around the gate. Maybe they won't screw it up.

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Just an old country boy saved by the grace of God.


Posted By: JW in MO
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 8:32pm
We use the two lock method at our show grounds for the power company and members with no problems so far but now that you brought it up, guess what I'm going to prepare for?  We do have the chain lag bolted to the post so it can only be used in one spot.
The only other suggestion I would make is take the two locks and weld the swivel sides together, either at the base or toward the top of the shakle


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Maximum use of available resources!


Posted By: desertjoe
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 8:37pm

 Well,,I'll tell ya'll a fail safe method that I seen down in East Texas where several different oil field companies had to have access,,, It was something welders made that could have as many as 6 locks and you only had to unlock yours and all the other locks stayed locked. I'll bet ole Ken down to "Hennessy" has seen those locking systems I'm talkin about. Every gate that had a gas well on it had this locking arrangement. Very simple but almost fool proof,,,,,Clap


Posted By: HudCo
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 9:00pm
desert joe you have my attention sometimes well most of the time the simple things are the hardest for me to see 


Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 9:24pm
Dont lock the locks together.. We have two pieces of chain 18 inches long... Use one lock to lock ONE END of each chain together.. Use the OTHER LOCK to lock the OTHER ENDS of the chain together.. You cant screw that up !! ............ that makes a LOOP that goes around two posts... If you want to go from post to post, then take 3 chains a foot long, connect as chain - lock - chain- lock- chain ........... then attach the END chains to the post PERMANENTLY.

BEEN THERE , DONE THAT........ we had 4 LOCKS ! 


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Like them all, but love the "B"s.


Posted By: dawntreader74
Date Posted: 22 Apr 2020 at 10:06pm
whats wrong with 1 lock' an have some keys made.


Posted By: DiyDave
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 5:14am
Weld  1 end of chain, to 1 lock, then weld the other end, to the other. make it just short enough so that you can only lock 1 lock, to the other...  I have never lost faith in the stupidity of any man...Hug

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Posted By: iowallis
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 5:27am

Originally posted by dawntreader74 dawntreader74 wrote:

whats wrong with 1 lock' an have some keys made.

Then I would need to get a lock and have 6 or 7 keys made every year. Plus hunt down the utility company to give them their new key. The combination lock gets switched out every year and the keyed lock stays.

Probably make 2 short chains and try that method. 

 




Posted By: jaybmiller
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 5:37am
DT74 has the simple, easy ,almost goofproof solution....
1 lock, many keys....
 There's no reason for different locks, as all need common access.
The trick is to NOT have THAT lock to be keyed alike with YOUR personal locks around the farm....
Also... hide a spare key,in a waterproof container,say under a bunch of rocks, just incase 'someone' forgets his key......



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3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
Kubota BX23S lil' TOOT( The Other Orange Tractor)

Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water


Posted By: Jim.ME
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 5:46am
Originally posted by dawntreader74 dawntreader74 wrote:

whats wrong with 1 lock' an have some keys made.


Utilities, and some others, generally use a common lock on their facilities for access of their employees. They don't want to give that key to the general public and it isn't practical to distribute a bunch of odd keys for various sites to all their employees who might need access to many different sites during an outage or such. And I don't think joe public should have a key to a substation, etc.; which is what would happen if the utility's key was given out.


Posted By: jaybmiller
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 6:14am
hmm, I was thinking iowallis was supplying the locks...not  the others..


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3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
Kubota BX23S lil' TOOT( The Other Orange Tractor)

Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water


Posted By: Jim.ME
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 6:41am
He might in his case; what I described is the arrangement for access to a number of remote sites I have worked at over the years. As a contractor we had to add a lock to the chain for our crews to enter and had to remove it when the job completed. For security reasons we were not allowed to have the utility, or owner's key, as they used that same lock/key set at multiple locations. And yes something as simple as always locking the lock you opened into the next lock to make a single link chain seems to be too challenging a task for some to complete properly. We also had to give our client contact a copy of our key in case someone on our crew locked wrong. Differences in gates, and how they get secured, makes it hard to figure out how to prevent this problem.


Posted By: farmboy520
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 7:38am
I think the key to making it successful is to make the chain just long enough that it works only one way. Even with the locks locked to one another, if the chain is just long enough for that then they can't get the chain locked any other way.

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On the farm: Agco Allis 9695, 7060, 7010, R66, Farmall H, and Farmall F20 (Great Grandpa's)


Posted By: HudCo
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 8:16pm
i still want to see this oil field thing


Posted By: desertjoe
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 9:08pm

 I made a sketch of one with 7 locks on it and I been lookin thru my stuff from that job,,but ain't fount it yet,,,I'll keep lookin for you, tho,,Clap
, The beauty of that design is that NOBODY ever forgot to lock up behind them,,,cause everybody would know who dunnit,,,LOL


Posted By: Michael V (NM)
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 10:00pm
I've seen them oilfield locks in the Permian basin (Midland/Odessa/Hobbs),, I had to get out and look, they are simple,but effective..they have a spinning wheel with holes that the locks are in, when the lock is removed, the gate latch will slide thru that hole and open the gate,with the lock in place, the latch will not fit through the hole..


Posted By: Wes (VA)
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 10:41pm
Googled for oilfield gate lock, pretty neat ideas there.


Posted By: Michael V (NM)
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 11:00pm


This is the kind I've seen


Posted By: LouSWPA
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2020 at 11:14pm
Originally posted by iowallis iowallis wrote:


Have a gate, actually 2 gates that swing and meet in the middle, at the entrance to a field/wooded area. 

I need to have 2 different locks on it, a keyed lock for me, the person who farms the ground, and the utility company and a combination padlock for the people who hunt the grassy and wooded areas that I switch out every year.

As of now I hook the locks together so unlocking one will unlock the gate and leave the other lock locked. Inevitably (3 times so far) someone will not lock the locks together but lock the ends of the chain and leave one lock hanging on the chain and that lock, when unlocked will not open the gate.

Is there a type of latch (lack of a better word) that would allow 2 different locks yet allow the gate to be unlocked by only unlocking one lock?


I guess my first question, if I understand this right, is, cant you tell who's lock has been unlocked and not returned properly? If so, the simplest answer is have a talk with the offender

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I am still confident of this;
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Ps 27


Posted By: desertjoe
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2020 at 5:11am

 Hey Micheal,,it good to hear from you,,,you gotta check in more often,,,we need more story tellers,,,,,WinkWink
 Yeah,,I can see where that design will work great as you have to remove a lock before the main pin can be slid out of its place,,,,,,

 All the ones I seen down in East Texas was on a flat piece of horizontal  1/4" plate steel

 I just remembered another thing I seen in East Texas was a drive thru gate system that you could drive up to a cattle guard looking thing and move forward till the trk's front tires stepped on a plate that triggered a big spring kinda like a big garage opener spring would start to unravel,,,and it would open the gate,,you had to move on thru as there was so much "time" before the big spring started to unwind and start closing the gate. Worked slicker than chit,,!!!! Them Texans got some good engineers,,!!!ClapClap


Posted By: jaybmiller
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2020 at 6:10am
Ok, I might have an easy, kinda fool proof cheap solution....

Cut a length of clear vinyl tubing and slide it over the chain, tierap or tape so ONLY 1 link at each end is exposed. That way locks can ONLY connect to each other.

 It 'should' be OBVIOUS to even a neanderthal HOW to lock the locks....maybe... at the every least dang hard to skrewup...



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3 D-14s,A-C forklift, B-112
Kubota BX23S lil' TOOT( The Other Orange Tractor)

Never burn your bridges, unless you can walk on water


Posted By: DMiller
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2020 at 7:32am
Another Alternate a friend of mine uses is allow TWO lengths of chain bolted to the post with One lock of Your choice on one chain to chain opening and allow the others to use the Other opening for ALL their locks. Dope screws that up you can still open yours and remove theirs. Point taken with previous post, note which is the offender and refuse them access until they can learn how to do this.


Posted By: iowallis
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2020 at 7:36am
Thanks for the ideas. 

One of my issues is the gates swing and meet in the middle and I need to wrap the chain around the 2 ends to hold the gate tightly closed as as they try to swing open and stay open so you can drive through. If I had 1 gate and it latched to a post or something more solid I would have other options.

Going to try the 2 chain idea, maybe with some scrap garden hose if it will fit as suggested by jaybmiller and see how that works.




Posted By: Jim.ME
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2020 at 8:00am
If there are multiple key holders for one lock you can almost be certain you will need to find "Not Me" to educate him, at least that was who I always had to look for when the gates were locked wrong. Also it is interesting the effort that some put into locking a gate wrong, compared to simply locking into the lock on the loose end. Had one (luckily not one of my crew) that managed to get 4 other properly chained padlock shackles captured in the shackle of his lock, owner was PO'd. Two chains just long enough that the number of locks needed must be there to make it reach is worth a try, any extra chain and there is a 99% chance someone will screw it up sooner or later.


Posted By: steve(ill)
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2020 at 3:28pm
We were the OWNERS of one gate.. Had 10 other gates so we could not SHARE a key and did not want to have a DIFFERENT LOCK on one gate... Another crew, lets say RENTER, needed access thru this gate to get to his property... We also had a CONTRACTOR on site who wanted THEIR KEY as all 10 people on the crew had THAT KEY... Then there was the Electric Company, same thing.. they needed access and ALL their workers HAD THE SAME KEY..............

so 4 different locks... used 8 inches of chain between each of two locks to form a circle.. Chain was not long enough in the end to connect any other way..


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Like them all, but love the "B"s.



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