High Rise Safety & Security SDC is recognized for the developing the first electrified lockets approved for stairwell door applications. Today, SDC HiTower®, Selectric® and Electra® premium grade electrified mortise and cylindrical locks are installed in thousand of buildings dominating skylines worldwide.
Innovation SDC has been awarded scores of patents for: • Mechanical Locks & Exit Devices • Electric Strikes • Electric Latch Retraction • Electric Cylindrical Locks • Electric Mortise Locks • Actuator Controlled Locks • Electromagnetic Locks • Magnetic Shear Locks • Delayed Egress Locks • Delayed Egress Exit Devices • Exit Sense Bars • Programable System Logic Controllers
Projects Short List • Austonion High Rise, Austin TX • NASA Kennedy Space Center, FL • Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C. • Museum of Modern Art, New York • J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles • King Khalid International Airport, Saudi Arabia • Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia • New DOHA International Airport, Qatar • Chek Lap KOK Airport, Hong Kong • Bank of America, U.S.A. • Chase Bank, U.S.A • California State Capital, East End Project • Duke Energy Nuclear Plants, N. & S. Carolina • Exxon Mobile, U.S.A. • JFK International Airport; NY • University Southern California • USC Medical Center • UC Davis Research Center • LA Unified School Distric, Los Angeles • Arizona State University, Arizona
On a sales call in Sacramento, Art explained to the California State Fire Marshall that many owners, after being cited for using chains, were looking for ways to legally lock their businesses. The fire marshal said they would allow locking the exit doors if the building was unoccupied, all the doors were on a supervised circuit, lockable and releasable by key from the outside. This was certainly doable but there was a catch. He stated that the release mechanism must not be dependent upon a spring to retract the bolt. That was the catch! Several months went by, answers seemed out of reach, but one day Geringer remembered small toy figures manipulated by magnets skating on a miniature ice rink. That was the answer; use repelling magnets to eject the bolt. As a result Geringer designed (see details Arthur Geringer bio) and produced a prototype of a lock for perimeter building doors. He took his working model to the Fire Marshal to demonstrate the mechanism. The Fire Marshall liked what he saw and after 1 million cycles in a testing lab the lock still worked and would release without relying on a spring. The lock was approved and the modern lock industry began. The SDC FS23S and FS23M were born and are still used today for higher security applications which magnetic locks cannot provide. To manufacture these newly approved locks Geringer founded Security Door Controls in 1972.
The California State Fire Marshal told Geringer another area needing attention was the locking of high-rise stair well doors, because if you are in a stair well and there's a fire you must be able to go to the nearest exit whether it be up or down. Many doors in high-rise stair wells lead directly into tenant spaces, and the tenants want their premises secured. The fire Marshall wanted these doors controlled by the fire panel so that any emergency could be handled safely. By 1976 utilizing a similar concept, Geringer demonstrated for the California State Fire Marshal the prototype of a new lock for locking stair well doors on the stair side only. Again, he liked what he saw and soon after surpassing 800,000 cycles and other UL tests the HiTower® Electric Frame Actuator Controlled Mortise Lockset was born. For many years it was the only lock to gain approval for use in thousands of high rise stair towers. While Arthur, David and Richard continue to produce innovative new patents, all patents are the property of Security Door Controls. In the following years Geringer and his sons developed several new products to meet the needs of the industry. As high rise building and airport security became a necessity around the world, SDC developed products to respond to that challenge. Today those products are installed in thousand of buildings dominating city skylines worldwide and are vital components in the overall systems at major airports, including JFK International, O’Hare, Dallas/Fort Worth. Chek Lap KOK in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia and in Saudi Arabia’s two larges airports at Riyadh and Jeddah as well as the Air Force Academy. In 1994 Geringer received the U.S. Door and Hardware Institutes highest honor, the “Founders Award”, for his prolific innovation and contributions to the industry. In 2004, Geringer received DHI’s second highest honor, the “Distinguished Consultant” award for technical excellence and standards of performance as an Architectural Hardware Consultant. Today, in addition to industry recognized expertise, an ISO 9001 certified quality management program, lean manufacturing system and Ship Quick program back SDC product quality, performance and commitment to customer satisfaction.
801 Avenida Acaso, Camarillo, CA 93012 Phone: 805.494.0622 FAX: 805.494.8680 E-mail: service@sdcsecurity.com URL: www.sdcsecurity.com