Tor Sørnes
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Tor Sørnes (11 November 1925 – 21 June 2017) was a Norwegian author, politician, engineer and the designer and inventor of the VingCard, the first recodable
keycard lock A keycard lock is a lock operated by a keycard, a flat, rectangular plastic card. The card typically, but not always, has identical dimensions to that of a credit card, that is ID-1 format. The card stores a physical or digital pattern that ...
and the
magnetic stripe The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They shar ...
keycard lock A keycard lock is a lock operated by a keycard, a flat, rectangular plastic card. The card typically, but not always, has identical dimensions to that of a credit card, that is ID-1 format. The card stores a physical or digital pattern that ...
.


Biography

Tor Sørnes was born in
Sola Sola may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Albums * ''Saints of Los Angeles'', a 2008 album by Mötley Crüe * ''Sola'', an album by Olga Tañón * ''Sola'', an album by Zayda y los Culpables Songs * Sola (Becky G song), "Sola" (Becky G song ...
,
Rogaland Rogaland () is a Counties of Norway, county in Western Norway, bordering the North Sea to the west and the counties of Vestland to the north, Telemark to the east and Agder to the east and southeast. As of 1 January 2024, it had a population of 49 ...
county,
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
as a son of inventor, radio technician and clockmaker Rasmus Sørnes. Being the son of an inventor, Tor Sørnes occupied himself with technical matters already as a child. In 1950 he was employed a production planner at steel and ironware factory Christiania Staal & Jernvarefabrikk in
Moss, Norway Moss is a coastal List of cities in Norway, town and a Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Østfold Counties of Norway, county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Moss. The city of Moss was established as a ...
. The factory made locks and
ice skate Ice skates are metal blades attached underfoot and used to propel the bearer across a sheet of ice while ice skating. The first ice skates were made from leg bones of horse, ox or deer, and were attached to feet with leather straps. These skates ...
s under the brand Ving. In 1955 he became the factory's machine constructor and when the factory in 1960—as one of the first in the country—established a department of research and development, he was its director. In 1975 he launched the holecard based recodable
keycard lock A keycard lock is a lock operated by a keycard, a flat, rectangular plastic card. The card typically, but not always, has identical dimensions to that of a credit card, that is ID-1 format. The card stores a physical or digital pattern that ...
, where each new hotel guest could have his/her own unique key formed by a pattern of 32 holes in a plastic card. The invention is still in worldwide hotel security use under the brand VingCard. The 32 holes in the key gave 4.2 billion combinations, the precise same number as the population of the earth at the time. This lock system was patented in 29 countries. In 1975 Tor Sørnes launched the first recodable cardkey lock, the VingCard, which used a holecard plastic key. He then led the development of and patented the electronic
keycard lock A keycard lock is a lock operated by a keycard, a flat, rectangular plastic card. The card typically, but not always, has identical dimensions to that of a credit card, that is ID-1 format. The card stores a physical or digital pattern that ...
, based on the
magnetic stripe The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They shar ...
key. Export of the system was initiated in 1978 when it was installed in Peachtree Plaza Hotel in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...
, Georgia, at the time the world's tallest hotel. The hotel had been troubled by burglaries and was eager to test new security innovations. In 1992–93 the electronic
magnetic stripe The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They shar ...
card lock was launched and became a worldwide success. Tor Sørnes continued as a vice president and director of R&D at VingCard until retirement in 1992. Following the merger in November 1994 between VingCard's former owners, Abloy Security, and the Swedish
Securitas AB Securitas AB is a Swedish Corporate group, group devoted to security services, such as security guarding, mobile patrolling, Surveillance, monitoring, Private investigator, investigation and related consulting services. The group is headquartere ...
, VingCard is now part of
Assa Abloy Assa Abloy AB is a Swedish Group whose offerings include products and services related to locks, doors, gates, and entrance automation. Related products and services include controlling access and confirming identities with keys, cards, tags, ...
, a Swedish lock manufacturer. Tor Sørnes is a retired member of
Moss Mosses are small, non-vascular plant, non-vascular flowerless plants in the taxonomic phylum, division Bryophyta (, ) ''sensu stricto''. Bryophyta (''sensu lato'', Wilhelm Philippe Schimper, Schimp. 1879) may also refer to the parent group bryo ...
city council, and lives in
Jeløy Jeløy (until 1920 named ''Moss herred'' - ''Moss rural district'') was a former municipality in Østfold county, Norway. Jeløy was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). It was merged with the urban municipali ...
.Moss avis, 16 August 2005. "Tor Sørnes er .tidligere bystyremedlem, bosatt på Jeløy" He is the father of author
Torgrim Sørnes Torgrim Sørnes (born March 2, 1956, in Moss) is a Norwegian physician, historian and author, who has written extensively on Norwegian social and forensic history. Early life and education Sørnes was born in Moss, Østfold, and raised on the i ...
.


Selected works

*2003 – ''Klokkemakeren Rasmus Sørnes'' (Borgarsyssel Museum, Sarpsborg Norway)


References


External links


VingCard official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sornes, Tor 1925 births 2017 deaths Locksmiths 20th-century metalsmiths Norwegian inventors People from Sola, Norway Conservative Party (Norway) politicians no:Tor Sørnes