What does this play on words mean? Well, we are used to seeing the lock. Something that you can see and into which you can insert a key or buttons or insert a card. So what is a No Lock? This is where you don’t see any outward appearance of any locking device.
These types of devices will begin to appear more in the doors of businesses and homes. You may see a small dark colored plate or glass at the front door or maybe nothing.
So how does the locking device work? First of all, the actual locking device will still be behind the door. It will have a locking bolt and a motor or solenoid that will move the bolt from locked to unlocked position and vice versa. It may even have a thumb twist on the inside so it can be mechanically operated.
Operation of the door from the outside can be done in various ways. Biometrics can be used for high security installations, be it fingerprints, eye scans, palm scans, or any combination of the three. They are typically found in government, military, or very high security facilities. For business use, you will find fingerprint scans or card access. For card access, RFID or Bluetooth will be used between the card and a certain position on the door. For home use, a smartphone will be used with an application that acts as the “Key”.
Either of these options will provide access control. The administrator will be able to grant or remove access immediately. There will also be a history of who operated that door and when. This history can be renewed or archived for an indefinite period of time. There may also be a timed entry where access is granted only for a specific time or period of time, such as between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
So it looks like “No Lock … Lock” will be in our future. There will be no outward visibility of a lock or where it may be. This should provide much greater security, as there will be no external blocking device that can be attacked. These locks will provide very good access control. They will first appear in commercial applications, then when the price is affordable, they will appear in the residential market.