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Anyone Wanna Host/Post A Cool Restraint Photo For Me?

12 visible archived posts · 12 preserved total · topic ID 1887

Crux 19 Mar 2007

I have an unusual and interesting photo(s) I took of a restraint device housed at a local museum, but don't have an image hosting service.

mark lyons 19 Mar 2007

Hi Send it to me. I will post it here for you.
mark
O--O

Crux 19 Mar 2007

Thanks a bunch, Mark. Check your inbox for the photos (3). I found this particular item at the Reading Museum in Reading, England. Would love to own it.

Mark Lyons 20 Mar 2007

Here are the 3 photos Crux has provided.
Please let us know more about these...they look very interesting!

mark
O--O

Unresolved image reference ↗

grenchat 20 Mar 2007

Thanks for posting these pictures, Mark and Crux!
These look like antique Fetters to me. Similar restraints can be found on Yossies famous website.
I would sure love to be the gaol keeper.

Happy collecting!
Jason

Crux 20 Mar 2007

It is an iron (guessing) restraint belt that had a strong hinge located 180 degrees opposite the buckle. The buckle could be adjusted to fit and lock around the waist of the prisoner.

I thought it was kinda funny that the sign says the restraint could have been used for the mentally ill - so much for soft restraints and not making the mad madder - and for prisoners, who could buy their way out.

grenchat 21 Mar 2007

Ive noted 3 types of closure mechanisms for these types of fetters:

Riveted, padlocked, and secured by way of a recessed Allen bolt. Of the latter, the key was simply an Allen wrench, used to unscrew the bolt. It would be almost 200 years for soft, humane restraints to become the norm in psychiatric treatment.

Jason

Edgeplay_Cgo 24 Mar 2007

Have you seen old restraints using hex socket (Allen) screws? That head pattern is a relatively modern style, requiring some precise machining processes to make work.

A lot of modern BDSM trade restraints use Allen screws.

grenchat 24 Mar 2007

Hello Dennis:

Ive not yet inspected a pair of fetters up close. Through film and other media, Ive seen this style of shackle used in a variety of settings often mounted to a dungeon wall. I have long since been curious about the inclusive locking mechanism of the latter example. You bring up a valid point about machining of the Allen bolt heads. Could a simple x pattern have been instead used on the early/pre 18th century design? I would love to see a close up picture of the key used.

Would anyone happen to know of antique shackles whereby the locking mechanism was incorporated into the hinge?

Thanks for any info on these

Jason

Edgeplay_Cgo 24 Mar 2007

#10

There's any number of easier to form screwheads that have been used by blacksmiths. The old square head bolt is probably the simplest. Fit a collar to the shackle, surrounding the bolt head so it requires a socket wrench to access the bolt, and you have a pretty secure fitment. A more secure fitment might be a pair of holes drilled into the bolt head to accept a pin spanner, like the two pin key on a pair of Marlin Bottle cuffs.

The problem with a slotted or a cross shlt screw is that any fool can fabricate a key for them from a piece of scrap metal. They aren't very secure.

Anything with a bolt fitment is made for pretty temporary use. It's made to be taken off without the bother of waking up the Blacksmith (hardly an exalted being despite his usefullness) and getting him to chisel off the rivet. And that was considered a trivial task.

For permanent attachment, it's very easy to drive a rivet.

Steve Santini 24 Mar 2007

#11

Regarding this fetter belt; it was most likely fastened using padlocks.

The belly hoop certainly has a staple better fitted for taking a padlock than for being riveted.

Speaking as one who has a big fondness for Medieval restraints I can say it is a common mistake to believe that the majority of Medieval restraints were riveted on.

This method of fastening has been wrongly reported as being widely used to fasten ancient irons in a number of publications. 0ne book on restraints pointed out, "padlocks were too expensive to make".

Heck, even ancient Roman manacles fastened with padlocks.

The fact that primitive padlocks or locking mechanisms were used , and this is supported by a pile of Medieval irons on display at the Kriminal Medieval Justice Museum in Rottenburg, Germany, the majority of Medieval European restraints either had built in locking mechanisms or fastened with padlocks.

Certainly there were restraints designed to be riveted on, but these are the exception and not the rule.

Steve Santini www.thedarkmaster.com

grenchat 25 Mar 2007

#12

Square and triangular bolt heads are excellent choices for those that lack integral locks. I am skeptical about the pin spanner key design as it would seem more prone to breakage and possible tampering by someone with access to bone or iron knitting needles.
Trying to rivet shackles attached to wall plates would be awkward at least, not to mention the inconvenience of rivet removal.

As Steve correctly points out, internal locks were incorporated in many of these antique shackles. The hinge lock design that I referred to the other day is one of two designs that I know of that used push keys. Im sure that several others existed, long since lost in antiquity. It would be interesting if one of the Restraint Museums had some fossilized keys on display as well.

Happy collecting

Jason