Automatic Gate

[miriam87]

Hey all,

I am a Mechanical Engineering student in my last semester of college and am currently taking a senior design class. The reason for posting this here is my senior design project, an automatic gate, is applicable to ranchers, and this is coming from a rancher . To better understand what the consumer wants and needs I am posting some questions below, please please answer one or all of them to help me better understand what works best for ranchers.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

1) What type of gate would you like it to be (i.e. steel, wood, concrete, etc.)

2) Would a keypad, remote access, sensor, RFID, or key entry be preferred on an automatic opening gate?

3) How important is a safety mechanism on an automatic gate to you?

4) For what applications would an automatic gate be most useful (i.e., backyard entrance, private property, industrial setting, etc.)

5) Would a self sufficient solar powered automatic gate independent of grid power be more enticing when selecting an automatic gate vs. conventional?

6) How would you like the gate to open?

7) What dimensions would be preferable for this gate?

8) How important is aesthetics for this gate?

9) Would you like the option of having a partially open mode that allows people to walk through but not cars?

10) Would a locking mechanism be desirable?

11) How much would you expect to pay for this item?

12) Are there any additional features you would like to see on this gate?

 

[LazyWP]

I got an automatic gate opener. Works well on most types of gates, and is portable. :wink:

Thought I had a better picture of it working, but this is the best I can do for the minute.

 

[Shortgrass]

My gate opener wore out, so I put in a cattlegard (cargate).

To answer a couple of questions for miriam87, I would like 12' steel tube, roll back (vs swing) durable, solar, neat, but not guady looking and activated by code for a neighbor or horse or remote for a different vehicle. An activating device on the dash or in the window for the chore truck that would close it auto when thru. Manual option when things fail. It must be affordable for the family ranch, not just the tax deduction outfits. Good luck...........

Almost forgot, it should come in the house and cook dinner when done :shock: :? The one I have now does :lol: :lol: .

 

[jingo2]

Good lord people....get out, get off and open the damn gate!!!

Or learn to set in the middle!

:wink:

 

[jodywy]

AGO is in my wife's job discription

 

[Anonymous]

I got an automatic gate opener. Works well on most types of gates, and is portable. :wink:

Thought I had a better picture of it working, but this is the best I can do for the minute.

Whats been your luck with those gate closers like in the picture?

Neighbor stuck up a bunch like that- and we found that when a bunch of cows/yearlings got bunched up next to or got to rubbing on the gate- they'd pop them open...So I ended up putting ropes on all them too....

 

[Soapweed]

I got an automatic gate opener. Works well on most types of gates, and is portable. :wink:

Thought I had a better picture of it working, but this is the best I can do for the minute.

Whats been your luck with those gate closers like in the picture?

Neighbor stuck up a bunch like that- and we found that when a bunch of cows/yearlings got bunched up next to or got to rubbing on the gate- they'd pop them open...So I ended up putting ropes on all them too....

Every gate on our ranch has a "gate lever" such as in LazyWP's picture. They work very well, and are easy to open from on top of a horse. As long as the snap is sturdy, with a good stiff clip, there is no need for any further safeguards. If the clip is broken, we either put on a new snap or a completely new gate lever. Our neighbor makes these several hundred at a time and sells them to retail outlets. Of all the gate levers on the market, his are the best. They have just the right curve so that if by some slim chance the fastener comes loose, the gate still stays hooked. I had a meticulous fence fixing hired hand for several years. He put a short piece of chain between the gate stick and the rest of the top wire. This makes a very user-friendly way of opening the gate, without tangling your hand or glove up in the barbs of the wire. Back in the 1960's, a local rancher "invented" these steel gate levers. He sold them for $2.50 each at the time. My dad traded him a $500 Hereford bull for 200 gate levers, and we started installing them on all the ranch gates. We have bought many more through the years since then.

 

[jodywy]

AGO is in my wife's job discription

and she not replacable and dinner in the oven or cork pot befor she goes and opens the gate.
yes a opener would be nice on the metal rail gates, but most of my gates are wire.

 

[Hayguy]

I got an automatic gate opener. Works well on most types of gates, and is portable. :wink:

Thought I had a better picture of it working, but this is the best I can do for the minute.

Whats been your luck with those gate closers like in the picture?

Neighbor stuck up a bunch like that- and we found that when a bunch of cows/yearlings got bunched up next to or got to rubbing on the gate- they'd pop them open...So I ended up putting ropes on all them too....

Every gate on our ranch has a "gate lever" such as in LazyWP's picture. They work very well, and are easy to open from on top of a horse. As long as the snap is sturdy, with a good stiff clip, there is no need for any further safeguards. If the clip is broken, we either put on a new snap or a completely new gate lever. Our neighbor makes these several hundred at a time and sells them to retail outlets. Of all the gate levers on the market, his are the best. They have just the right curve so that if by some slim chance the fastener comes loose, the gate still stays hooked. I had a meticulous fence fixing hired hand for several years. He put a short piece of chain between the gate stick and the rest of the top wire. This makes a very user-friendly way of opening the gate, without tangling your hand or glove up in the barbs of the wire. Back in the 1960's, a local rancher "invented" these steel gate levers. He sold them for $2.50 each at the time. My dad traded him a $500 Hereford bull for 200 gate levers, and we started installing them on all the ranch gates. We have bought many more through the years since then.

could we get some close-up pics at some time?

 

[jodywy]

highway department use one like this on thier gates

 

[Anonymous]

This is along the type I use on all the new gates I build--but with key pin holes and a heavy pin across the top to keep cows from rubbing it up...

 

[Silver]

So I ended up putting ropes on all them too....

I like rope myself, but find the main drawback is hunters and all other non-ranch folk need a course in tying them :? I've seen the most gawd awful attempts at tying a gate with rope, most need a boy scout to untangle them.... if they stayed done up at all.
You'd think something as simple as tying a gate and not using a single knot would be a simple concept :shock:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I think this was supposed to be about a main ranch gate or one that the tractor needs to go through a dozen times a day. Not a barbed wire gate.

Some thing made of pipe could have a button and remote that would open and close. 16 feet wide would be nice. Solar powered.

 

[Faster horses]

Well, it doesn't have a button to open and close, but SSAP has
an automatic gate that really intrigued me. I have a picture of it,
if I can find it.

Well, I found it and tried several times to upload it to photobucket
and I keep getting the same message:

"the action you were trying to do has failed."
Guess I'll email it to BMR and see if he can post it for me.
I usually don't have problems with photobucket but... :???:

 

[per]

Well, it doesn't have a button to open and close, but SSAP has
an automatic gate that really intrigued me. I have a picture of it,
if I can find it.

Well, I found it and tried several times to upload it to photobucket
and I keep getting the same message:

"the action you were trying to do has failed."
Guess I'll email it to BMR and see if he can post it for me.
I usually don't have problems with photobucket but... :???:

I had the same problem on Photobucked tonight but when I went to the album on photobucket, there were my photo's, in duplicate. :???:

 

[jodywy]

So I ended up putting ropes on all them too....

I like rope myself, but find the main drawback is hunters and all other non-ranch folk need a course in tying them :? I've seen the most gawd awful attempts at tying a gate with rope, most need a boy scout to untangle them.... if they stayed done up at all.
You'd think something as simple as tying a gate and not using a single knot would be a simple concept :shock:

half hitch will hold the devil so a double half hitch should hold a gate...

 

[LazyWP]

To be honest, I was just smarting off about my gate opener. All the gates I have to go through everyday have Autogates, Cattle guards, Drive overs, what ever your area calls them. I always thought that I wanted an automatic tube gate, about 12 to 16ft long going into a stack yard, when I was a kid. Dad always had to open the gate because it was to tight for me. Always thought something like a garage door opener on the tractor would be a good idea, but at that time, it would have had to be fast enough shutting to keep cows from sneaking around the back of the tractor.

 

[gcreekrch]

One of the Dorsey clan who is our neighbor has had nothing but pack around rail gates or barways that have rails that slide individually. He calls a barbed wire gate a "mechanical barway". :lol:

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

Well, it doesn't have a button to open and close, but SSAP has
an automatic gate that really intrigued me. I have a picture of it,
if I can find it.

Well, I found it and tried several times to upload it to photobucket
and I keep getting the same message:

"the action you were trying to do has failed."
Guess I'll email it to BMR and see if he can post it for me.
I usually don't have problems with photobucket but... :???:

Here you go

 

[Faster horses]

Thanks. I figured you could do it.
Per, I'll have to go check my photobucket album and see
how many duplicates I have now. I tried many times...