Website: Children's Harnesses by Elaine, Inc. www.childharness.ca
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Saturday 19 March 2011

Double lock buckles coming soon for my Child-to-Adult Harnesses

I" double lock rock lockster buckle
It's silly the things I get excited about but this little baby right here has become my new gold.

Think I've lost my marbles? Maybe, but since this buckle was incredibly difficult to find and took lots of phone calls and emails to track down, when I finally located a company that could order them for me, I felt like I'd hit paydirt.

Oh sure, a number of companies have 1 inch locking buckles on their websites but contact them to order some and you quickly find out that they don't carry that buckle, they don't make that buckle, they don't have that buckle and furthermore, they can't get that buckle. "Then why the heck is it on your website!!!???" "Oh well, it is available as a special order and you'd have to pay for a gazillion of them before we would ask the factory to make them for you but sorry, we can't send you a sample first to make sure you like them."

But I digress. The point is, I've succeeded and fingers crossed within the month I'll have these buckles listed as an ordering option on my website.

The buckle is called a double lock rock lockster and it takes 2 hands to open. You squeeze the sides with one hand and press the tab with the other to pop the buckle open. For those parents who know they need locks on the Child-to-Adult Harness they order for their child, this locking buckle will be perfect. Since the buckles on the harness are at the child's back, odds are good that the child won't be able to figure out (sight unseen) the two-handed process needed to open the buckle. Anyway, that's the plan. 

Right now I offer my customers locking carabiners as an option for their Child-to-Adult Harness. The locking carabiners have been wonderful and have done the job beautifully over the past 3 years but a few months ago when my supply was running low and I placed another order, I ran into difficulties. Essentially, I wouldn't be able to get any more of the small locking carabiners I use now.

But as with all things related to this business run by God, along comes a lovely lady by the name of Leanna who tells me about cop-lock buckles that need 2 hands to open. And the hunt was on. 99% of the industry uses 2 inch cop-lock buckles, hence the difficulty in locating 1 inch buckles that I need for my harnesses. But that's all water under the bridge now and I've nailed a supplier and placed my order. I've opted for the more expensive buckles made in the USA rather than the cheaper ones made overseas because I really like the quality of the American buckle and I want to support a company south of the border. I'm so thrilled that later this week I'm going to make a YouTube video to show off my sample buckle to the masses.

Have I lost my marbles? Maybe. But when I find something that I think will be GREAT for my customers, that's great quality, that's made by a company on this side of the pond, that's a reason to celebrate. Heck, it's even a reason to make a video.

3 comments:

  1. It was a very wise choice to buy from the North American vendor. Time after time, asian products are manufactured with raw materials which have been found to contain hazardous substances. It would be interesting to see if a harnessed person with average to above average manual dexterity, would indeed be able to open the new buckles. The harnesses that were put on toddlers in the 1950's were leather straps, with 3 belt type buckles. one each on the back of each shoulder strap, and one at the back of the chest strap. They also had a leather strap in front, linking the shoulder straps. It looked just like the ones on lederhosen. The lead looped from "D" rings on each side of the chest strap with heavy spring steel hooks, that the fingers of the caregiver were strong enough to open (hopefully), but those of the child were not. You may be able to find a picture on wickipaedia.

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  2. Hi Emptynester7985, Very interesting history lesson, thanks so much for that! Good point about the American buckles, I hadn't thought of that. The quality of these buckles does seem really good, I just hope I don't have to wait to long to get them! E

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  3. double locking buckles are starting to become more common on shoping cart child restraints in the U.S. i guess they are more child restant than the older style buckle

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