Combination locks that use letters instead of number

Todd Basche created an innovation in an industry that hadn’t seen much change for 150 years.

For many years numbers were Todd Basche’s number one enemy. The former Vice President of Software Applications at Apple just couldn’t remember number combinations. His innovation was born out of necessity, a snagged pair of swimming trunks, and a red face. e came up with a stunningly simple solution for his memory lapses – use words instead of digits on combination locks. The modern combination lock was invented by Linus Yale Jr in 1862, but had remained virtually unchanged since then.

With all the random series of numbers we have to remember for bank cards, cell phones and computer passwords, Basche knew that words would be far easier to remember. He also discovered 100 year-old patents, but the locks were large and unwieldy with 26 characters on each wheel. he letters just replaced the numbers. No one had gone the extra mile to make the locks spell out words. His patented lock has ten characters per wheel and he developed a computer algorithm that told him which letters should be positioned where to get the maximum number of words. There are 10,000 different options. The algorithm also filtered out many of the main curse words.

“We hand crafted prototypes by taking wheels to an engraver and having him engrave the correct letters in. We took the sample to schools and the kids said 'well that’s so much better.'”

During the first year the Santa Clara, California-based company was self-funded and based at the couple’s home. But then they experienced astronomical growth in 2008 and had to move to business premises and take on employees. By the end of the first quarter of that year Wordlock was in 900 stores, by the end of the second quarter they were in 1,200 stores.

There are a range of Worldlock products such as cable locks, bike locks, luggage locks, and utility locks which are sold in Target, Sears, Ace, and online stores such as amazon.com. Basche’s simple and brilliant invention has unlocked a massive revenue stream.