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Berlin Key

en.wikipedia.org

101–110 of 153 posts

Re: Berlin Key

#101

So Aldi shopping carts and Berlin keys are isomorphic. You stick your token in, you gain access to a facility, and then to get your token back, you must restore the facility to its proper state. Additionally, in both cases, the facility you're unlocking happens to involve physically moving an object around.

It's not just Aldi, the same thing has been common for decades at some Tesco, Morrisons, Lidl etc stores.

Re: Berlin Key

#102
On a side note, what is the rationale behind the fact that there are doors that can be locked without a key? The horror stories of having the door slammed and getting trapped while outside are so common. If a key was necessary no matter what to lock a door, this wouldn't happen and people wouldn't have to spend a kidney calling a locksmith in the middle of the night.

Re: Berlin Key

#103

On a side note, what is the rationale behind the fact that there are doors that can be locked without a key? The horror stories of having the door slammed and getting trapped while outside are so common. If a key was necessary no matter what to lock a door, this wouldn't happen and people wouldn't have to spend a kidney calling a locksmith in the middle of the night.

In certain areas, the risk of forgetting to lock the door after returning and having someone unwanted make their way in to the house is higher than the risk of getting locked out after forgetting a key.

There is a larger group of areas where this is perceived to be true, even if it isn't.

Re: Berlin Key

#104
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> As it's impossible to leave the building without a key in case of a fire. Isn't that the case for most doors that lock? You can't leave through my (brand new, to-code) front door from inside without a key to unlock it first. It wouldn't be secure if you could open it without a key - isn't that the whole point of a lock with a key?

> You can't leave through my (brand new, to-code) front door from inside without a key Just to clarify, after you lock your front door with the key, it’s impossible to unlock the door from the inside without a physical key? The vast majority of locks have a physical unlocking mechanism on one side (one side is unprotected, usually the inside)

> The vast majority of locks have a physical unlocking mechanism on one side (one side is unprotected, usually the inside)

Maybe where you live. I’ve never seen a lock like that except in a hotel.

Re: Berlin Key

#105

Video showing how it is used, really neat! https://youtu.be/UW4jZLEgaiU

Something that isn't entirely clear to me from the video. Do you have to push it from the inside to retrieve it outside? Because that would be super annoying.

How so? The only time you use the lock, you are leaving or entering, and the key forces you to lock the door in order to retrieve the key on the other side.

Re: Berlin Key

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You can't leave through my (brand new, to-code) front door from inside without a key to unlock it first. I'm sure I'm just ignorant, but it sounds like your lock is on backward. Every front door I've ever seen can be unlocked from the inside without a key. Example: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Schlage-Deadbolt-Satin-Brass-Single... Could you link to a lock that's similar to what you're talking about? I'd feel very unco…

This is what a lock in Germany and most of Europe looks like: https://proxy.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmax-attachme... It's the same from both sides (except for the screws, you can only unscrew it from the inside). Both the inside and the outside have a keyhole, and while a key is in one side you can't put a key in all the way from the other side (this way you can lock from the inside, leave the key in, and ev…

You can replace the lock with one of these: https://5.imimg.com/data5/EI/SP/MY-3690463/hardwyn-hcl-301-2...

Re: Berlin Key

#107
post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Based on this data, the fire death rate in the US is 1.16 per 100k pop. and the rate in Switzerland is 0.28 per 100k pop. Percentage wise, that's a big difference, but that's only because both of these numbers are extremely small. I don't think it's really accurate to say you're much more likely to die in a fire in the USA; it's extremely rare in both countries.

1.16/0.28 is a big difference. If Switzerland had the US rate, ~75 more people would die every year. If the US had the Swiss rate, ~2800 people would live to see another year.

An extra 2800 people out of a population of 380 million? Statistically meaningless.

Re: Berlin Key

#108
post #71
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's an example of my deadbolt that's keyed on both sides: https://i.imgur.com/xXzWS7j.png

Those are peodominately used in situations where someone could reach in (via a broken window or space between bars) and simply unlock it. A solid door should not have this type of lock in the US.

> A solid door should not have this type of lock in the US.

Why not? Someone smashes a window, crawls through it, walks around to unlock the main door, through which the burglars unload your stuff. It’s a lot harder to move things through windows.

Re: Berlin Key

#109
post #10

I'm surprised some houses still use this. As it's impossible to leave the building without a key in case of a fire. I suspect it may even be illegal today.

> As it's impossible to leave the building without a key in case of a fire. Isn't that the case for most doors that lock? You can't leave through my (brand new, to-code) front door from inside without a key to unlock it first. It wouldn't be secure if you could open it without a key - isn't that the whole point of a lock with a key?

It's only less secure if there's something easy to break close enough to the door that a person could break it, reach through, and unlock the door. That's only really relevant if there are no windows anywhere else at ground level that a burglar could easily break and climb through.

Interestingly, the door locks commonly used in the US are much less secure in general than those typically seen in Europe. The average US household deadbolt can be opened with fast lockpicking techniques (raking, zipping) while European ones usually can't. That may be a surprise given the relatively high crime rate of the US.

One crime that isn't as high in the US as most European countries, however is burglary of an occupied residence. It seems the increased risk to the burglar's life may have some deterrent effect.

Re: Berlin Key

#110
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are much more likely to die in a fire in USA, so it makes sense for Americans to take more measurements to prevent it. But in for example Switzerland fires is not a big thing so there is no need to have any laws against it. https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/fire-death-rates

I'm also guessing german europe (swiss, austria, germany) lives in an earthquake free zone, so they can make stone buildings without much consideration for earthquakes while most of the US population has to think about earthquakes and/or hurricanes, so housing is more likely to go towards flexible and flammable wood.

In a house fire you'll usually be killed by your burning synthetic furnishings before the burning structure gets much of a chance.
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