Hiatt Long Chain Darbies

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Justin

I have many Darbies, but not a pair like yours. Quite nice.

Joe

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Hi,
I have a nickle plated Hiatt cuff with a long chain.



Peter
http://users.telenet.be/cuffman/

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Dear Justin,

Thanks for posting this message as I think you may have answered one of those unanswerable questions.

I also have a pair of Hiatt long chain handcuffs in my collection however mine are marked A8 L.C.P
The L.C.P could have stood for Leeds City Police or Liverpool or any number of forces many of which are now long gone.

You having an identical pair marked Leicester County Police makes me think that my pair may also be from Leicester.

Although the picture may look as if they have been plated they are polished metal and are in excellent condition making me think they've seen little use. I would say mine are on the smaller size and as well as the usual Best Warranted Wrought they are stamped with the No.1 as is the key.

Thanks once again,

Mark (RMP)

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Hi, and thank you all for your response.

Mark, very interesting to see your cuffs with L.C.P. markings, I think there is a very good chance that they are also from Leicester.

The number on mine appears to be a 12, but could also be L2.

Glad to have helped answer the L.C.P. mystery , I never expected to see cuffs so similar to mine !

Thank you for posting.

Justin.

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Very nice cuffs.

You guys have given me one more item for my ever expanding want list.

Joe

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Hi Joe,

Thats the wonderfully frustrating thing about collecting.

These are certainly factory produced in my mind and haven't had longer chains added later. It's certainly would have been a simple option for the factory to offer.

I'm inclined to go with Justin idea about lower security police station / court room use rather than use on larger people.

I'm not certain but I think larger people have difficulty getting there hands behind their backs which is when I've seen two pairs of cuffs used and I understand that hands in front was always the approved way in the UK certainly when these cuffs would have been made.

Lars's beautiful example of solid state 8 is another of those rare odd balls. I'm fortunate enough also to have a couple of these which also appear to be factory original. I've seen a few that have obviously been welded at a later date but mine appear to be forged and looking at the picture of Lars's his appears forged as well. Unfortunately both of mine are missing their keys. I've never understood the real sense behind this design as the Irish 8 offers the same degree of restricted movement but only having one lock to contend with makes them quicker to operate and presumably cheaper to make.

What I've never seen is a factory made triple darby combo of the kind that Towers and the like produced.

Does anyone know of such a thing?

Mark (RMP)

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Another pair of long chain Hiatts has come out of Leicester. Same style as Justin's but with a non original key number 60 which looks like the key in Cuffman's pic. I think this key is newer than the cuffs. They are marked Hiatts not Hiatt also Best, Warranted Wrought, 37. No Police markings as such. Barrels are sealed with V's with a central O. Not sure if Hiatts with an 'S' helps to date them, any help appreciated.
Paul

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Hi Paul,

All of my Hiatt darbies are marked with Hiatt only, from my most recent 1960's and 70's models down to my backstraps that are marked "Hiatt Birmingham"

I have personally never seen any darbies marked "Hiatts", you may have something quite unusual.

The other markings your cuffs have would indicate that they were made earlier rather than later, but it is always quite difficult to date them exactly.

I think it is interesting that all of the earlier long chain darbies that have shown up on this forum are associated with Leicester.

Regards,

Justin.

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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The Hiatts mark is new to me. I only have one other different mark which is Hiatt & Co Birm. on an 1860 M&C backstrap. These cuffs are sooo smooth to touch I can imagine they've been jangling around someone pocket for a long time.

I was hoping to find out more about these Hiatt long chain handcuffs I purchased from England.
They have "Leicester" stamped on one cuff and "County Police" stamped on the other. I believe these to be factory markings as all of the standard "hard" "Warranted Wrought" and numbers etc. are all crammed onto one half of each cuff to make room for the Leicester stamps.

The cuffs have the largest wrist size in my Hiatt collection, 68mm x 58mm.

I would like opinions on why Hiatt would make such cuffs.

These days police need to link two sets of standard handcuffs together in order to restrain larger people,
so were these made for larger prisoners ?

Or perhaps they were made for a low security situation, such as in the police station or in a court room when the suspect needed to have some freedom of movement.

I have searched through many handcuff collections on the net, but can't seem to find any similar early Hiatt long chain darbies, I'm sure there are others out there, but are they rare ?

Justin.


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Nice cuffs Paul !

They certainly do have a nice finish.

I think the "HIATTS" stamp is interesting, perhaps another collector will be able to shed more light on this unusual detail.

Justin