Specifications

S
ecurity and Life Safety Codes are
not, by virtue of their individual
definitions, the most compatible of
concepts. Particularly when it comes
to back door security. In fact, until
recently, the accepted presumption
was that the two principles could form,
at best, only an uneasy alliance.
If you examine some of the
hardware that is — and has been —
offered in the market-place that is
touted to “comply with Life Safety
Codes” you’ll see that it is often
cumbersome and at least in my
opinion, often incapable of meeting
NFPA’s “One Motion Egress”
mandate. I’m not suggesting there are
no products available to accomplish
both physical security and Life Safety
compliance I just feel that until
recently, there were truly few
products that could deliver what the
promotional literature promised.
Well! Let this ol’ boy tell you the
good news. Sargent & Greenleaf has
developed, and is marketing a product
that will not only lock a problem door
down tight enough to discourage most
bad guys and gals from trying to pry it
open it will also make the local fire
marshal smile! It’s called: “Arm - A -
Dor”.
Arm - A - Dor offers the security of
a solid steel drop bar that holds the
door firmly shut by locking behind the
inside of the jamb (see Photograph 1)
while complying with Life Safety
Codes by meeting that all important
provision of “One Motion Egress”.
You got it! A panic device that uses
solid square bars to
hold the door shut
by locking it to the
inside of the frame.
Believe me, these
are heavy-duty, one
and a quarter inch
square steel locking
bolts, that easily
release with a push
on the pressure bar
— just like a normal
panic exit device.
However, they lock
behind the frame
with a TWO INCH
BOLT PROJEC-
TION! Now that’s
really heavy duty.
T
he Arm-A-Dor is mounted to the
door with Grade 5 carriage bolts
(3/8” x 2-1/2”) with exterior washers
that surround the bolt head and
provides a great deal of tamper
resistant security from the outside
(see Photograph 2). To prevent the
door (in the case of hollow metal or
foam filled metal doors) from
collapsing when these bolts are
tightened, S&G provides internal door
support sleeves (Also shown in
Photograph 2) with each unit to help
ensure the rigidity of the door’s skin.
As long as the door itself is in good
shape, Arm-A-Dor panic hardware
provides excellent forced-entry
resistance and meets the Standard for
Safety UL 305 (Listed 3F43 Panic
Hardware) from Underwriter’s
Laboratories. The Arm-A-Door also
meets NFPA-101 Life Safety Code
mandates, the Universal Building
Code, the BOCA and ANSI Standard
156.3: Exit Device criteria. In other
words: “It’s one tough piece of
equipment that covers it all!”
BY JAKE JAKUBUSKI
86 • The National Locksmith
True Back Door Security With
1. Arm - A - Dor offers the security of a solid steel
drop bar that holds the door firmly shut by locking
behind the inside of the jamb.
2. Grade 5 carriage bolts with
exterior washers that surround
the bolt head and provides a
great deal of tamper resistant
security from the outside.
Continued on page 88
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