Unknown British Darby Handcuffs

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

You should talk to Steve Santini about these....he has a pair very similar to them in his collection. You can contact him at steveshackles@myway.com

Cheers, Mike

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

Single cuffs, with no attachment point, were sometimes used as an end lock on a gang chain, or as a padlock to attach a chain to a fixed object.

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

I may be totally wrong here, but I was told that shackles like these with no linkages were used as simple padlocks to secure the lids on beer barrells for transport. Apparently the guys who delivered the beer in the old days, had to take the empty barrels back to the brewery, and they made extra money by transporting goods in them. They apparently used the shackles to protect whatever was inside the barrels.

Maybe the manufacturers made handcuffs and at the same time they made these. 2 products made for 2 different purpses at the same time!

I think this information came to me from either Riley or David DeVal.

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

I agree with Mick. These are simple padlocks. They were called D-locks.
Larger ones were made to lock gates. Old Hiatt advertisements list a product they called Dee-Gate locks.

Joe

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

Joe,

If I am not mistaken, the Dee Gate locks were much like an end lock with a screw key mechanism.

And, the shackle was not perfectly Darby sized for a human wrist.

Also, unlike the end locks, they do not look like a Darby cuff.

I remember seeing an image of one on a box for an old set of Hiatt 104's.

These Hiatt padlocks show up once in a rare while on Ebay and have a tubular ribbed cast metal body.

As well, I have not seen any records showing any Hiatt products featuring spring wedge push type keys.

Nor are any of these spring wegde cuffs stamped "HIATT".

And we all know they liked to stamp thier products.

Just my opinion here but I think these push key type single manacles were an early Darby design used with chains of varying lengths to link a number of convicts into a number of different configurations.

Steve Santini

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

Dear fellow collectors,
first of all, I would like to thank you for your prompt replies - I really appreciate your knowledgeable help.

From my opinion there are some indications that these items are rather handcuffs than padlocks:
1. The size of the cuff, which fits perfectly around small wrists.
2. The shape of the bow, which rembles an "U". This would reduce chafing of the skin. The oldest leg-irons and handcuffs in my collection were forged with similiar bow shapes.
3. The strap hinge, which is rather thin. A padlock with such a weak point would be quite easy to break open.


Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

But these were not designed to be high security. I'm not saying they were not handcuffs, I am saying that the factory who made them used EXACTLY the same product for handcuffs and padlocks. Some were left as padlocks, the rest were turned into handcuffs.

In my idea these locks were just used during transportation of products in barrels.

Another question now,that Steve might be able to answer...I've never seen this type of spring key on any British cuffs. Am I missing something? These keys were used on jewelery boxes and padlocks made in Asia quite a few years ago, and still turn up in trinket shops these days, but on British cuffs?

Maybe I've not been into handcuffs for long enough, but these don't seem British to me

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

I commented on the lock that way because it was being surmised the cuffs or padlocks were British and possibly made by Hiatt (I do not think they were).

Henceforth my comment about not knowing of any British cuffs having such a mechanism.

Steve Santini

Dear fellow collectors,
recently I was able to acquire two single wedge-lock darby handcuffs of British origin, similiar to that one Atame (Guenther) posted two years ago:





Unlike all my other British handcuffs these two handcuffs are not linked together. Neither the bows nor the barrels of both handcuffs show any vestiges of a linking mechanism.
Therefore my questions are: Does anyone know how these handcuffs have been used? Were the handcuffs just locked into each other or are there any parts missing - perhaps a chain link that was inserted into the handcuffs before they got applied to the wrists?

There are no marks on the handcuffs that allowed me to identify the manufacturer. Does anyone know who manufactured them and when they were made?

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks a lot
Bjoern

Click to expand...

Thanks Steve...I agree totally with you. Just didn't recognise that type of key on a cuff or padlock. Nevertheless, still an interesting thing to look at!

On a different subject, I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on my story about the Mirror Handcuffs in the new Handcuff Annual which is out soon.

Regards

MH