Locker (cabinet) - Non-standard Types

Non-standard Types

There are a number of less standard lockers that are offered by various manufacturers. These include:

• MF MDF lockers with Solid Grade Laminate doors: manufactured in the UK by Prefect, MF MDF lockers are a very popular choice for new build schools. The lockers are recessed into alcoves and can be supplied in fire retardant material in order to comply with BB100. The other advantage is that they can be made to any size whereas steel lockers tend to come in standard sizes. An MDF locker can be made to suit any location.
• Gun lockers: These are lockers or safes specifically designed for the secure storage of guns and ammunition. They broadly resemble normal single-tier lockers, but tend to be slightly less high than normal single-tier lockers, and are often free-standing, and not banked together. They are fitted with internal racks designed for holding firearms. They have a shelf at the top like normal single-tier lockers, although in this case it is closed and locked by a separate door, because of legal requirements in some countries that firearms and ammunition be stored and locked separately. They always lock with three-point locking, which is in some countries a legal requirement for the storage of firearms. Sometimes they are made of the standard kind of sheet steel used in manufacturing normal lockers, and sometimes they are made of extremely thick heavy-duty steel and in this case resemble a safe more than a normal locker. In Australia there are strict regulations governing the storage of firearms following the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, Australia on 28 April 1996, and cabinets used for storing firearms must be bolted to the floor or a wall if the cabinet is under a certain weight. Dedicated gun lockers are likely to include holes in the cabinet to accommodate such bolting. Several locker manufacturers also offer dedicated gun lockers.

• Bicycle lockers: These are large storage compartments, usually in outdoor locations near railway stations and the like where people may want to store bicycles securely. They are often banked together, with individual lockers shaped like an isosceles triangle for efficient and compact storage of a bicycle. This triangular shape permits the lockers to be grouped either in a radial pattern (with the sharpest points of the lockers together), or in a row in alternating orientations. See Bicycle locker for more details about this.

• Heavy-duty / high-security lockers: These are similar to the standard models, but are usually made from thicker-than-usual steel, and have three-point locking, regardless of the number of tiers involved. Some models are made from steel 1.2 mm. thick, in contrast to the more usual 0.8 mm.

• Laundry lockers: These are used in places like hospitals or food-processing work-places where uniforms have to be collected, laundered, then returned to their owners. The locker cabinet contains a number of very narrow lockers, each of whose doors is keyed using a key held by the owner, so that they have access only to their own locker; but the entire array of doors is embedded in a much larger door covering the entire front of the cabinet. Opening this opens all the lockers simultaneously, and requires the use of a master key which is held by whoever collects items deposited in lockers, for laundering, then returned in the same way, after which they items are accessible to owners using their individual small doors.

• Services lockers: These are extra-wide lockers used by fire or police services, and typically have a number of different compartments within a single door to accommodate different pieces of equipment used by fire or police personnel, such as special shelves to accommodate helmets, boots, and so on.

• Jumbo lockers: One or two manufacturers use this term to describe a locker that is essentially similar to the services locker, although it may have fewer compartments or special fittings - but there are no consistent differences between manufacturers' descriptions of less usual lockers.

• School lockers: These lockers may be single- or two-tier, and are fitted with internal divisions or shelves to accommodate both hanging space and room for storing textbooks.

• Perforated lockers: These are similar to the standard types of locker, but the door and walls are made largely or entirely of perforated steel, with hundreds of holes creating a strong mesh arranged in a diagonal pattern. This is used where good ventilation is required, or where, for security reasons, it is necessary that the contents can be examined visually while the doors are locked.

• Backpacker lockers: These rather rare lockers are designed to accommodate backpacks in places like backpackers' hostels, and are similar to two-tier lockers, but with larger dimensions. Typically, the height may be standard, but the width and depth will be several inches bigger. These usually lack internal fitting such as shelves, hanging railes, or hooks.

• Stepped/2-step lockers: These are two-tier lockers, usually available only in 15-inch (38-cm.) width; but the compartments and their doors have an L-shaped cross-section, which causes the division between the doors to follow a zig-zag pattern. This configuration enables more hanging height to be included in both upper and lower lockers; but part of each compartment (the lower part of the upper one and the upper part of the lower one) will be only half the usual width of two-tier lockers.

• Executive lockers: This is usually a larger unit offered by a few manufacturers, not banked but free-standing; but inside the door will be several compartments, including a full wardrobe-type hanging compartment, as well as a number of other smaller compartments for varied uses.

• TA-50 Military Gear Lockers: These lockers are widely used by the US Department of Defense as personnel lockers. They can be made of several locker materials but usually are made of steel or wire mesh. The term TA-50 refers to any type of military equipment so the sizes and configurations are generally based on the type of TA-50 stored.