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San Francisco inventor's bike lock designed to make would-be thieves vomit

By Ben Hooper
A San Francisco inventor's bike lock is designed to make would-be thieves vomit. Screenshot: SkunkLock.YouTube
A San Francisco inventor's bike lock is designed to make would-be thieves vomit. Screenshot: SkunkLock.YouTube

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SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- A San Francisco inventor is taking aim at bike theft with the SkunkLock, a lock designed to "fight back" by emitting a vomit-inducing odor.

Daniel Idzkowski is seeking funding on IndieGoGo for the SkunkLock, which he said was inspired by the recent theft of his friend's bike from outside a Whole Foods, despite being secured by two separate locks.

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Idzkowski said the hardened medium-carbon steel U-Lock, which he calls "the only lock that fights back," is designed to only emit its noxious odor when someone tries to cut through it with a saw, angle grinder or other tool.

He said the chemicals inside the lock include a concoction dubbed "formula D_1."

"It's pretty much immediately vomit inducing, causes difficulty breathing," Idzkowski told The Guardian. "A lot of similar symptoms to pepper spray."

He said he and his team tested out the chemicals at various distances on themselves.

"At two feet it was pretty bad. It was absolutely vomit inducing in 99 percent of people. At five feet it's very noticeable and the initial reaction is to move away from it. At 10 feet it's definitely detectable and very unpleasant," he said.

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Idzkowski is currently charging $99 to pre-order the SkunkLock, which is scheduled to ship in June 2017.

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