As students move into dormitories and shared rooms, the security of their proliferating electronic devices and other valuables becomes an issue (Amongst several such projects, I had to use a cable lock to secure my daughter’s laptop to her student hall radiator. No-one stole the radiator).
It’s also essential that, when defending one’s rent deposit, that no damage be detectable by a landlord later.
Today’s invention is a cheap, secure box which can be firmly attached to floorboards so that stealing it in toto becomes difficult.
A strong, lockable box (blue) has an array of holes in the base. The box is placed on a wooden floor and, where the holes match the gaps in the floorboards, a drill can be used to penetrate the tongues, as shown.
A bolt with a pivoted bar (yellow) is passed through to the underside of the board and twisted so that the bar’s asymmetric weight allows it to lie flat and grip the board when the bolt is tightened.
To remove, untighten the bolt and tap it to disengage from the wood, leaving no sign of its presence (and no need to hide aftereffects under a rug).
