Features We Love: The Captive Plastic Latch

“My favorite SLP product is not so much a product, but rather a feature. When I began my tenure at SLP I was looking at an assembled Citadel 2 enclosure. As I had the fixture in my lap, I went to open up it up and a plastic latch shot off and hit me square on the nose. While shaking off the surprise nose flicking and mumbling to myself, “Now that’s a first,” IT HAPPENED AGAIN. I took the fixture that was now short two latches and walked into the sales office laughing. I asked if the way the latch jumped from the housing was normal or if I was just “SPECIAL”. After a good laugh at my expense, they proceeded to explain how the plastic latches could act like a spring when released because they did not have the same captive feature found on our stainless steel latches.

Within a couple hours, I had a new design for the plastic latch base, and in just a few short months we were selling all of our latches with the captive feature. Now are we the only company that has captive plastic latches? No; but, we were the first, and all it took was a good shot to my nose.”