If you've ever wanted an automatic gate opener for your farm, ranch or private driveway. check out this Horn Gate from Irontech of Twin Falls, Idaho.

When you honk (for about 2 seconds), an electro-pneumatic solenoid activates a compressed air cylinder which lifts the gate and allows you 15 seconds to pass. If you need more time, honk again and the gate remains open.

Friends and neighbors can operate the gate, too. You simply tell them to sound their horn when they get to the gate and they can drive right through. No special horn is required. A combination of volume and duration of the sound is all that's required. There have been no problems with cattle bellowing and opening the gate, reports Wayne Skeem, the inventor. Intruders are kept out.

Should you need extra security, the horn gate can be equipped with a "pattern mode" which allows you to program the solenoid so it opens the gate only after a certain pattern is sounded, such as a long honk followed by a short honk followed by another long honk. It can also be operated manually and it can be locked.

The Horn Gate is designed to work with electric fences, primarily. When the gate closes, its crossbars fit into slotted brackets which are electrified so that the entire fence and gate remains hot.

Power for the solenoid comes from GEL cells, sold by Sears. They are lead-acid batteries in a gel form, according to Skeem. They can be recharged up to 200 times from a standard 12V automobile cigarette lighter. The solenoid itself draws just 1.5 millimeter, so the GEL cells don't need to be recharged very often.

Skeem uses a compressed air tank that holds 125 psi of air. The air operates the lift on the gate. Since it moves a piston just 7 in. to operate, Skeem says he can get 250 openings on one cylinder of air.

He has tested and improved the Horn Gate for 10 years. He started with a light-activated model but found it to be impractical. He also tried a radio-controlled model similar to a garage door opener but decided it defeats the purpose of the gate since friends and neighbors can't get in and each vehicle you own would need a control unit, thus making it cost prohibitive.