Wordlock is a brand of combination locks, made by Wordlock, Inc., that differs from traditional combination locks in that it has letters on its dials instead of numbers. This allows the combination to be a four-letter or five-letter word or name, similar to a password, and therefore potentially easier to remember than a series of digits. Wordlocks come in luggage locks, bike locks, padlocks, cable locks and commercial locks.
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History
The Chinese created the first word combination lock in the 13th Century.[1] The idea never caught on in the west, however, until Todd Basche, former Vice President of Software Applications at Apple Inc., invented the modern word lock in 2004. He and Rahn Basche founded Wordlock, Inc. in 2007 in Santa Clara, California, USA. Todd’s patented Wordlock algorithm maximizes the number of four-letter and five-letter words that can be spelled on the Wordlock dials.
Wordlock won the Staples Inc. Invention Quest in 2004[2] and “Top 100 New Inventions” distinction at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Invent Now America competition in 2008.
Possible combinations
The five-ring Wordlock contains 10 letters per ring as follows:
| Ring 1 | Ring 2 | Ring 3 | Ring 4 | Ring 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | O | R | D | S |
| B | R | I | A | N |
| P | I | L | O | T |
| F | L | A | S | H |
| M | C | N | K | Y |
| D | E | U | N | D |
| T | T | T | R | |
| A | N | O | T | E |
| L | A | S | E | R |
| S | P | E | L | L |
Each ring rotates independently of the others, yielding a possible 105 (or 100,000) different combinations. Wordlock contains one blank space on the fifth dial to make four letter words. About 2000 words are possible as combinations.[3] However, this 2000 word figure does not include the many possibilities for quasi-words (BLATS or JADA); certain names (BUNTY or MOSES); and acronyms, foreign words or gibberish known only to the lock owner.
Word combination examples are BRAIN, SLEEK, MATCH, ALIEN, CHAT, DRINK, DUTY, BREAK, BUNNY, SUIT, SUITS, CHICK, THIS, BORED, TODAY, MELTS.
See also
References
- ^ Locks: How Products Are Made
- ^ Wordlock Wins 2004 Staples Invention Quest
- ^ This can be checked using a wordlist file and standard UNIX-commandline tools as follows:
cat wordlist.txt | grep -i -E '^[WBPFMDTALS][ORILCETNAP][RILANUTOSE][DAOSKNRTEL][SNTHYDERL]?$' | nl
External links
- Wordlock, Inc.
- Wordlock Patent Appl. No. 29/298,386
- Wordlock Patent ppl. No. 29/298,385
- Wordlock 30 Second TV Spot
- Security Tips on www.howstuffworks.com
- Historical Locks: Padlocks in China
- Schlage's History of Locks
- Staples Introduces Innovative Lock That Uses Letters Instead Of Numbers To Create Easy-To-Remember Word Combinations
- Wordlock Featured on Daily Grommet
- Wordlock Founders Featured on The Balancing Act Show
- Wordlock Padlock Featured on HSN
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