Unpowered gate opener
One of my favorite movie
biographies is the inspiring story of Temple
Grandin, whose autistic innovations helped to improve the cattle
industry and people's understanding of autism. 17 minutes into the film
you get treated to a demonstration of an impressive looking unpowered
mechanical gate opener.
I'd like to make one someday
for our ATV/chicken gate, but there's not much information available,
which is why I captured some images of that scene to study.
Figuring out the
counterbalance weights and pulley placement might take some trial and
error. I'd love to hear comments from any readers who may have seen one
of these in action.
Or explore more posts by date or by subject.
About us: Anna Hess and Mark Hamilton spent over a decade living self-sufficiently in the mountains of Virginia before moving north to start over from scratch in the foothills of Ohio. They've experimented with permaculture, no-till gardening, trailersteading, home-based microbusinesses and much more, writing about their adventures in both blogs and books.
Want to be notified when new comments are posted on this page? Click on the RSS button after you add a comment to subscribe to the comment feed, or simply check the box beside "email replies to me" while writing your comment.
In her own words:
Keep in mind that there is no such thing as an unpowered gate opener. Without energy input the gate won't move. If the only action to power the gate is to pull on the rod, that will have to supply all the necessary energy.
In your case you could use a couple of hinged plates on both sides of the fence. If the gate is closed, the plate is lifted on the unhinged side forming a ramp. Driving the ATV up onto one of the plates (from the hinged side) would push the ramp down. Attach the moving end to the gate with a spring (to store energy), some rope and appropriately placed pulleys and the weight of the ATV would open the gate.