photo credit: Micah Dowty
Everyone who knows anything about garage door openers has heard of the company Genie before. That is because they are one of about three or four of the premier names in this industry. They have been around since 1923 and have been making their Genie garage door openers (which are what they are known for today) since 1954. That makes over half a century in this business. And you can bet they have been able to continually improve their final product over that time period.
One of Genie’s greatest innovations has been their Safe-T-Beam System. If you have not seen this one in action, you have doubtless seen its competitors’ cousin safety innovations. The Safe-T-Beam System consists of an infrared sensor which can detect when anything whatsoever is blocking the path of the open garage door. If the door is on its way down and it senses that something is in the way (kids, animals, a wheelbarrow, etc.) it automatically stops itself immediately and reverses course. It travels on back up into the garage ceiling and will continue to do so until the path is cleared.
It is probably impossible to even estimate how many lives have been saved by Safe-T-Beam, but suffice it to say that it’s a lot. In the old days of garage door opening systems, there were many tragedies. The technology was nothing like it is today. In fact, there were probably more accidents (some even fatal) than we are aware of due to poorer record keeping. The bottom line is that Genie garage door openers are a great way to allay parents’ fears that their children could get trapped under the garage door. As a child, I remember a neighborhood boy getting trapped under the door. In the process his arm was permanently damaged. Regulations such as this are wise, but it is ashame that people had to be harmed before the manufacturers modified designs and added safety features. In development of new products, companies would be wise to do research from the end user's perspective. I bet just about any mother would have mentioned the possible danger of children and objects becoming trapped under a door. A Genie garage door opener is a great addition to any Custom Home.
