Hiatt home office pattern keys

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Please post a pic of the key. Does the keyhole end of the cuff, or the post that the key goes over look any different ?

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

Mark

I have only seen the "standard" round style with a post. Yours sounds most interesting.

As for small cuffs I think they were pretty standard in the 19th century. Although we would consider a teenager a child, in the 19th or early 20th century a young street hoodlum of age 16 or so would have been expected to be working and would not be considered a child. And it would not at all be a surprise to find that such a young man, undernourished all his life, might have small wrists.

At one on the early Cannon's escape artist conventions there was a young magician in his 20s named Eric who was tall, but who had very small wrists. He could slip his hand out of any standard Darby. At the convention I bought a nice pair of Longmore Darbies that were very small, just slightly more than 2 inches across. They would not come close to fitting most peoples wrists, but they fit Eric's wrists just fine. And he could slip out of them.


Joe

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

Thanks guys for your responce. The images are a little less than perfect however you'll get the idea.

In the 1st image the cuff on the left is the usual design of Home Office key and on the right is the more oval design even though it may not look it in the photograph. As mentioned the keys are not inchangeable and neither cuff has a spring loaded bolt as is usual on a standard darby but never found on the Home Office pattern







It may also be worth pointing out that the name Hiatt is stamped in a much smaller font on the oval cuff than on the standard example. It may help to indicate date.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks,

Mark (RMP)

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

Sorry for the Anonymous name tag above. I thought I was logged in.

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

could you post photos of both of the hammer heads as i would like to see what they look like.... do you think that the center plugs are original & never have been out ????? joe

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

It's hard to see from the pictures exactly what is oval. I assume the oval shape is what keeps the key from rotating on the post. Is the outside of the key as oval as the inside, or is it round and just the inside is oval ? I'm asking this from the standpoint of determining how the key was made.
Thanks.
Stan

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

i think mabe that it is just the hilt of the key that is oval.... joe

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the delay in responding however I've posted a couple of additional pictures. Joe T you asked if the centre plugs are original. I can honestly say that I don't think these cuffs have been tampered with or altered in any way either as a repair or as a trick aimed to con someone.
The pair on the right are the oval style and normal Home Office pattern are on the left


The two keys styles are similar but different. Obviously the bows are different to begin with. The keyway on the cuff is circular in profile just like all the other darbys I've seen as is the exterior of the business end of the key. The hole in the key is not circular / tubular. Oval or elliptical would be my best description but only slightly. IE you wouldn't be able to insert an appropriate diameter circular metal rod into the opening of the key. My best guess on key construction would be that during manufacture a controlled amount of pressure / force would be exerted onto the side wall of the key causing it to distort slightly forming the oval shape. The exterior of the keys body would then be turned back into a circular or tubular shape allowing it to enter the key hole of the cuff.

The small top pair of cuffs are the oval keyway and the normal Home Office pattern are below.


These cuffs did come from a prison officer as previously mentioned and I doubt he'd be involved in any shady business. I purchased several pairs of cuffs which he had acquired over a life long career in the prison service but this was the only pair like this.

He also mentioned that in 1964 Parkhurst prison destroyed many old pairs of cuffs by cutting them up and putting them into the foundations of building work which was been undertaken on the prison site. A request from him to keep several pairs was refused by the Governor as he considered these restricted items.

Thanks once again for the input.

Mark (RMP)

Can anyone confirm that more than one Home Office style key was used by Hiatts.

I have recently acquired a pair of Hiatt cuffs which has a more slightly oval keyway and no small post rather than the standard circler style with a small post which engages into a notch in treaded post inside the lock body. This oval style will not unlock the standard nor will the standard key unlock the oval style. It simply won’t fit onto the threaded bolt.

I obtained these cuffs from a long since retired prison officer stationed at Parkhurst Prison on the Isle of White.

He was confident that there were several styles and remembers distinctly that if a key was lost or stolen then the prison service would exchange cuffs with another prison employing a different style of key. This would prevent or at least limit any compromise in security. This exchange did occur during his time at Parkhurst however he was uncertain if the loss of a key took place at Parkhurst or if it was elsewhere but that an exchange did take place. I suppose it does make sense.

I think we may also be able to shed a little light on the examples of very small darby cuffs which are around. I've read that the UK police were never allowed to handcuff minors or women which may possibly be correct however the Prison Service certainly was. I showed the retried prison officer my example of a pair of Field's tiny darbys which are extremely small and whilst admitting he'd never seen cuffs as small he'd seen cuffs which were allocated for use on children which were clearly to small even for women. He also recall a leather restraint was introduced later in his career.

Incidentally he still recalls escorting prisoner using cap locks and a gang chain from Waterloo Railway Station in London then onto another train to the south coast before boarding a passenger ferry to sail to the Isle of White. During the ferry crossing prisoners would be secured in the hold of the ship. He also recalls an attempted mass escape at Waterloo Station which he calls his own battle of Waterloo.



If anyone’s interested I’ll post a picture of the key.

Thanks,
Mark (RMP)

Click to expand...

MARK: thanks for the photos... i am sure that the cuff on the RIGHT is legitimate, but hard to tell from the photo if the PLUGs have been removed or not... it is just that one would think that - WHY would they just put in a large oversized bolt that you could fit any type of tube over it -- therefore could be unlocked.... also the D - could this stand for DEVAL ?? DAVID use to get finished parts from HIATT & assemble cuffs himself.... just a thought.... joe