# Name for this latching mechanism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366 "2023-08-10T16:59:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/1 "2023-08-10T16:59:49Z")
We hired a carpenter to do various improvements. He just finished work on our shed, putting on a metal roof, vinyl siding, new gutters. When he finished he told us he didn’t want to have ugly hardware on the doors so he used a different mechanism. I think it’s pretty cool. Anyone know if it has a name? (for all I know he came up with it on his own) The completed shed. Zoom in on the doors to see the latch: [![](https://i.imgur.com/kgb5LjL.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/kgb5LjL.jpg) Pull to open door: [![](https://i.imgur.com/NZZdoPo.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/NZZdoPo.jpg) The latch: [![](https://i.imgur.com/UMAeGX8.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/UMAeGX8.jpg) The other door: [![](https://i.imgur.com/nGzWdGg.jpg) ](https://i.imgur.com/nGzWdGg.jpg) Pretty cool, right? My gf hates it, thinks traditional hardware would look better, break up all the red (she chose the color) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/2 "2023-08-10T17:35:45Z")
This probably won’t help, but Jim Nabors would call that a latchstring, as in, “Keep the latchstring out and the dogs tied up, I’m comin’ home.” ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/3 "2023-08-10T17:41:36Z")
I’d call it “Tears waiting to happen”. If any part of that pull-string comes apart while you’re pulling on it, the shed will be locked from the inside. You’ll have to dismantle the door to get it open again! ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/4 "2023-08-10T17:43:22Z")
Self-locking gate latch. And yeah, you better hope that piece on the end of the cable never comes off. I woulda gone with something that can be tied in a knot. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/5 "2023-08-10T17:47:33Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > You’ll have to dismantle the door to get it open again! That’s my gf’s fear. But I’ve played around with it and can’t see how it could happen. The carpenter told me he has used that cable with its crimped fittings for a long time and it has never failed. (Also, there is a twin of these doors on the other side of the shed with an identical mechanism, so both would have to fail at the same time) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/6 "2023-08-10T17:48:35Z")
Don’t know what it’s called, and it does look cool, but the downside of that particular arrangement is I don’t see how you could lock it, if that’s ever a concern. I’m not sure exactly how the latch rotates, but I suspect that the hole at the bottom is for a padlock that would keep it from unlatching, but you have that on the inside. > [@kayaker](#): > > > [@Horatius](#): > > > > You’ll have to dismantle the door to get it open again! > > That’s my gf’s fear. But I’ve played around with it and can’t see how it could happen. The carpenter told me he has used that cable with its crimped fittings for a long time and it has never failed. That was my thought, too. Very doubtful that the crimped end will ever come off as it’s not put through a lot of stress. But … I’m going to guess that neither you nor the carpenter has ever owned an original Volkswagen Beetle! 😃 The accelerator pedal pulled on a cable that was connected to the throttle on the engine at the back. With a crimped metal end just like that one. Which came off one day! I managed to get to a repair shop by literally tying a kind of knot in the thin stranded-metal cable. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/7 "2023-08-10T17:51:00Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > I don’t see how you could lock it We do not lock any buildings, including our home, so that was never a consideration. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/8 "2023-08-10T17:57:00Z")
OTOH, if your gf ever gets very, very mad at you, the latch arrangement is ideal for locking yourself in! 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/9 "2023-08-10T17:58:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > (Also, there is a twin of these doors on the other side of the shed with an identical mechanism > [@wolfpup](#): > > OTOH, if your gf ever gets very, very mad at you, the latch arrangement is ideal for locking yourself in! But only if he has two padlocks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/10 "2023-08-10T18:01:00Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Jim Nabors would call that a latchstring, as in, “Keep the latchstring out and the dogs tied up, I’m comin’ home.” Latchstrang. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/11 "2023-08-10T18:01:26Z")
Well, there is electricity in the shed (my late FIL was an electrician. There are outlets _everywhere_! ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/12 "2023-08-10T18:02:43Z")
So, if you are locked inside you can electrocute yourself rather than starve or thirst to death? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/13 "2023-08-10T18:03:05Z")
You are, of course, correct. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/14 "2023-08-10T18:03:53Z")
That’s the plan. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/15 "2023-08-10T18:04:36Z")
I like that kind of latch. We have a 6 foot high fence around our back yard. I have something very similar on my gate from the front to the back yard. On the few occasions it decides to jam up I’m tall enough to reach over the gate and unlatch it from the other side. 😵 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/16 "2023-08-10T18:05:28Z")
I’m an engineer. If something can go wrong, it will. It looks like you have room to run a second cable for back up. Congratulations on living where you don’t have to lock things up. ---
**Author:** ![Mallard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Mallard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mallard)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/17 "2023-08-10T18:07:48Z")
I am not an engineer but I approve this message. Seriously though, in a former life (over 40 years ago) I was an automobile mechanic and I absolutely agree with your philosophy. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/18 "2023-08-10T18:12:27Z")
I don’t like it because it’d be hard to use with your hands full or with big gloves on. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/19 "2023-08-10T18:24:34Z")
I’ve seen that latch mechanism used on privacy fence gates several times. My mom has one on hers. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366/20 "2023-08-10T18:37:00Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Self-locking gate latch This certainly seems to be a googleable term of art. Especially if you add the term “with cable pull” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/name-for-this-latching-mechanism/988366.md?page=2)