MEMBER Some of the Most Famous People No One Has Ever Heard Of “At this moment, I began to realize this man was studying my KBA as if to break it, stretch it, turn it over and see if it would fail in the mental tests he was exercising it through.” taking from him 20 minutes of his lunch hour. I looked at it and fondly recollected his patience, then set it aside (Though for the first time, I realized the man was from Medeco). I thought, “That makes sense,” as every interaction I have ever had with Medeco technical support has always been a showcase of professional- ism. Looking at the card as I put it aside, I wondered if he went by Peter or Pete and whether or not his wife told him to stop wearing that old sport coat. I proceeded to read the Medeco section of the class textbook, and the thought came to me to Google search the pat- ent for Medeco³ and review its very cool locking sidebar. I knew the M³ had been around for a while, and I also knew the patent was set to expire relatively soon on this product. I wondered how cool the next evolution of Medeco would very likely be. I wondered how Medeco would expand the platform yet retain backwards compatibility. What would come next for this innovative company? 22 KEYNOTES JANUARY 2022 A Realization Anyway, patents are an easy internet search and are a crucial step in research- ing lock technology for the first time. This Medeco patent is not unlike all oth- ers in that it is filled with words that do not seem to belong together and has weird numerical references, cross sec- tions, hatch drawing, witnesses’ names and signatures. I always look at the name(s) of the inventor. Neither name seemed familiar but wait… wait one minute! I looked at the business card, then back at the patent and then back to the business card again. I realized that the quiet unassuming man — who very graciously and freely gave me 20 precious minutes of his day — was none other than Peter Field, one of the two in- ventors of the Medeco³ platform. Well, I’ll be.... This is why you join and remain in ALOA. This is why you participate in education. Every single person I have ever encountered in ALOA is willing to help — even a person who is directly respon- sible for one of the cornerstone technolo- gies of the company that supplies the ma- jority of high-security cylinders in North America. You will meet some of the most famous people in the world whom no one has ever heard of. Thank you, Mr. Field. I hope retirement is treating you well, and if you ever get to Southwest Florida, stop in. I owe you a full lunch hour, and I am buying. Richard Howard, AAADM, CFDAI, CPL, DHC, DHT, ICPL, IQP, has 30-plus years industry experience work- ing in distribution special- izing in hollow metal, wood doors and commercial hardware. An active member of both ALOA and DHI, he enjoys the ever-changing and challenging field of locksmithing. ADVERTORIAL AUTOMOTIVE LOCKSMITHING BROUGHT TO YOU BY All Keys Lost for their vehicles, it’s no shock that a good amount of automotive locksmiths’ calls are in the “all keys lost” environment. How difficult it is — and therefore how S much equipment and experience an au- tomotive locksmith needs — to create a “key” in such a situation depends on the vehicle. For many domestic and Asian vehicles, nothing more than a new re- mote fob or key, a programmer and an immobilizer table are required. But for some Asian vehicles and most —if not all — European vehicles, more advanced tools are required, including tablets with soſtware that can compute the immo- bilizer password and generate a key file and devices such as a smart key stimula- tor. This device links with an advanced immobilizer tablet. The EEPROM data file saved to the tablet is then saved to the stimulator that mimics an existing fob and enables an actual smart key to be created. WWW.ALOA.ORG ince market research has shown that a signifi- cant portion of the driving population is down to one working key or remote fob
