Gordon installs a cabinet lock on a large, glass-door display case at Chicago’s Marriott O’Hare Hotel.
Gordon Satera turned his childhood fascination with locks into a lifelong career, and recently celebrated his 40th anniversary at Anderson Lock.
As a young boy, Gordon took locks apart to study their mechanisms. He went to the library for locksmith books, and signed up for a locksmithing correspondence course when he was in seventh and eighth grade. In December of 1972, after serving six years in the National Guard, and working for another lock company, Gordon joined Anderson Lock. “That was back when Gene and Norm (Anderson) were still going out on jobs,” he says.
“You just learn as you go along,” he notes, when talking about how technology is always changing. “I mainly do desk locks and cabinet locks, now.”
Some of the cabinet locks he replaces, like the one shown in this photo, are used to lock display cabinets with large glass doors. Many are in antique desks or showcases that require special skills because the wood is worn and the owners don’t want new holes drilled. Nor do they want locks that are too shiny or new looking. Gordon often has to scrunch into confined places, like he did at the Chicago Marriott O’Hare Hotel, to be able to work on the desks and cabinets.