Some embodiments include a lock cylinder comprising: a plug assembly having a front portion and a back portion; a housing shell within which the plug assembly is rotatably disposed, wherein the housing shell includes a notch; wherein the back portion of the plug assembly comprises: a locking pin that is movably disposed, and wherein the locking pin is configured to prevent a rotation of the plug assembly when the locking pin is engaged in the notch and prevented from retracting by a multi-stable mechanism; and the multi-stable mechanism having at least two stable configurations corresponding to respectively to a locked state and an unlocked state, wherein the multi-stable mechanism can maintain the stable configurations without consuming energy; wherein, at a first stable configuration, the multi-stable mechanism prevents the locking pin from retracting, and, at a second stable configuration, the multi-stable mechanism enables the locking pin to retract.

A method of gaining authorized entry into a secure location is provided. The method includes providing an electronic lock having a dial, the lock operably coupled to a microprocessor having memory for storing a user input code and a valid code. The user rotates the dial to activate power to the lock and a first random character is generated. The user again rotates the dial until a first user input character displays in the display. The first user input character is stored in memory and a second random character is generated. After the user has entered all characters of the access code, the microprocessor compares the user input characters with the valid access code stored in memory if the user inputted code comprises an authorized code an indicia is generated on the display to visually indicate to a user that the lock is capable of moving to the opened position.

The invention relates to a locking device (1) for a door, in particular for a sliding door (10), comprising at least one door leaf (11). The locking device has a housing part (2) and a locking element (5) which is held by the housing part (2) and which is used to lock and unlock the at least one door leaf (11) in a closed or open position. The locking element (5) can be slid along a sliding direction (V) and can be tilted about a rotational axis (R1) relative to the housing part (2) in order to allow the at least one door leaf (11) to be locked and unlocked alternatively by both sliding as well as by tilting the locking element (5). The invention additionally relates to a door, in particular a sliding door (10), comprising such a locking device (1).

A household appliance includes a base body having an interior compartment, a door leaf pivotable relative to the base body for opening and closing the interior compartment and a closing device having an actuator. The actuator is constructed to move the closing device back and forth between a position latching the closed door leaf and a position unlatching the closed door leaf. The closing device has an RFID scanner and the household appliance is constructed to control the actuator, based on a code which is stored in an RFID transponder, is read by the RFID scanner and is associated with the closing device, in such a way that, depending on the position of the closing device before reading the code, the actuator moves the closing device from the latched position into the unlatched position or from the unlatched position into the latched position.

A hood-integrated vehicle body in which a hood, a bumper, and a fender are integrally formed into a single component so as to reduce the weight thereof is disclosed. The hood-integrated vehicle body includes a front vehicle body part, which is constructed such that a hood is integrally and rotatably connected to a front portion of the front vehicle body part and is openable at a rear side thereof, a lifting unit mounted to the front part of the vehicle so as to rotate the hood, and a locking unit, which is mounted to the front part of the vehicle so as to selectively engage the hood with the front part of the vehicle such that the engagement of the hood is released so as to allow the hood to be opened by means of the lifting unit upon manipulation for opening the hood.

A padlock is disclosed comprising an electronic circuitry and such that the padlock may be opened via a near field communication network such as Bluetooth or via other electronic means such as an integrated fingerprint scanner. In one embodiment the padlock is capable of receiving and transmitting radio frequency signals from nearby sensor nodes containing information regarding temperature, humidity, moisture, speed, vibration, liquid level, concentration of gases and other sensing devices for use in a system for monitoring, tracking, tracing, alarms, access management, access recording, authenticity and integrity of goods, documents or other valued objects in storage or transit.