HOW IT ALL BEGAN

Our founder, Arthur V. Geringer, was born in 1923 and grew up in his father’s architectural hardware business in Chicago. After serving in the US Army during World War II, he returned to civilian life in 1945. He settled in California and was employed at a major Los Angeles contract hardware firm before moving to an automatic door firm. While there Art received his certification as an Architectural Hardware Consultant in 1952, allowing him to combine his industry experience with his energy and passion for innovation for the next 60 years.

In 1971, Art was asked by the California State Fire Marshal to create a failsafe bolt lock for perimeter doors that would unlock automatically when the power was removed. His first solution was rejected because it relied upon springs to unlock – deemed unacceptable by the fire marshal.

Undaunted, Art remembered little magnetized toy dogs that would repel each other when one dog smelled the other dog’s tail and realized a solution was there. He invents the FS23 series electric bolt lock which utilizes two repelling magnets to repel the bolt from the strike even if the spring should fail. The fire marshal approved it on the spot.

In 1972. Art patented the lock and approached his employer to manufacture it. He didn’t share Art’s intensity and enthusiasm for developing electric locking capabilities. The next day, Art resigned and with his wife, Mae, founded Security Door Controls in Tarzana, California - located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County.

The great migration to electric locking systems had begun.

Today
SDC is credited with innovating a number of additional industry firsts including, but not limited to these selected highlights:

• The one and only HiTower® locksets
• The first electric strikes with interchangeable faceplates and field reversibility for failsafe or failsecure operation
• The first electromagnetic locks with an interlocking quick mount assembly
• The first floating armature for electromagnetic locks
• The first to design a delayed egress lock, followed by the first to include onboard electronics and visual and verbal countdown
• The first to design interlocks, mantraps, and shared bathroom controls
• The first pressure sense exit bar - SureExit® - to allow immediate release of electromagnetic locks and still the only tri-failsafe exit bar available today
• The first motorized electric latch retraction kits – QuietDuo™ LR100 series – enabling electrification of mechanical exit devices, leading the industry transition from solenoids to motors

We bring a razor-sharp focus to the practical application of electricity to door openings, creating innovative electrified mechanical hardware and electronic technology access and egress control solutions.

THE NEXT 50 YEARS

Although no one can predict exactly what the future holds, one can use experience, purpose and values to control how to respond to it. Because SDC has a tradition of excellence and innovation through several generations of family ownership and operation, we will continue to pursue efforts in refining our efficiencies and expanding our competence to best serve the market. In terms of fire and life safety, access and egress door control systems, SDC has always been and will continue to be “the lock behind the system.”