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Hiatt Bar Shackles - before and after Restoration

14 visible archived posts · 14 preserved total · topic ID 3203

Nils 13 Sep 2009

Hi everyone,

here's a few pictures of the Hiatt Bar Handcuff and shackle combo that I tried to restore. The white / blue backgrounds are before and during the cleaning.

Can anyone make any sense of the markings? Any ideas as to their age? They work fine.

My guess is around 1860, give or take 50 years. The seller claimed around 1820. Not sure if the combination is original; the ring is only bent shut.

Nils

Nils 13 Sep 2009

Oh, and one how I got them:

Nils 13 Sep 2009

Edgeplay_Cgo 13 Sep 2009

Based on the fact the rings are not welded, and the cuffs appear to be three different patterns, my gut feeling is that the cuffs have been made up from three pair of cuffs that someone acquired or had on hand.

The fact that the rings are not welded indicates to me that the assembly is contemporary. If they were made up in the eighteen hundreds, the blacksmith would have welded the rings without having been asked, just because it was proper.

The cuffs with the ridge-back hinge are fascinating. They look like a variant of the backstrap closure design, probably some sort of a transition model. Does anyone know if those are older or newer then the more familiar backstrap design? I would guess they are a later design, as they were probably die-forged rather than just hammered out. That would be a time consuming (read expensive) profile to hand forge. That profile should be a dating-point.

Unknown / guest 13 Sep 2009

cuffman69 13 Sep 2009

Hi Nils,

Congratulations on cleaning up your cuffs, you've done a good job.

Unfortunately I think your dates are by 100 years or so.

The 1st picture showing the restored single set of cuffs are Ruben Craddock and Sons probably made around 1940's. They are often called false backstraps because of the way they mimic the design of a back strap cuff. One of your pictures clearly shows three dots / dimples in a row. These cuffs were available in 3 sizes the smallest having 1 dot, middle size 2 dots and the largest with 3 dots. If you look at the bottom of the lock barrel you may see the letters R.C.S along with 19?? which is the date and the number 3 which again indicates the size. I think it is unlikely to be a factory original combination as it has the same square bar as the Hiatts.

Your other set is more recent than the 1920 as this is when the British Made stamp appears. I would again put the original date of these cuffs around the 1950's give or take a few years.

In the 3rd picture it shows the hand / leg combo with a set of Hiatt adjustable handcuffs with two keys of different designs, Based on the style of lettering of the name HIATT on these cuffs I would hazzard a guess that the key on the right hand side is more likely to be the original as it's design best suits the period and that the key on the left which is slightly more ornate is a little older.

I'm sure Joe or others will be able to offer more.

Regards,

Mark (RMP)

Nils 14 Sep 2009

Looks like I can learn a lot about Hiatt cuffs here. Fascinating. The rust made them look a lot older than they seem to be. I didn't know bar handcuffs were used after 1900.

Did you notice the arrow mark in photo No. 6?

Here is photo of the end cap:

cuffman69 14 Sep 2009

Hi Nils,

The arrow mark is known as a Board of Ordinance Mark often called a crows foot or broad arrow mark. The Board of Ordinance dates back to around 1597 until 1855 when it became the War Department where the arrow mark continued in use. It signifies that the item carrying the mark is Crown Property and this mark can be found on a wide range of items from handcuffs, firearms, bayonets mess tins and even on wood screws. Basically anything which belonged to the Crown / Government. It means that these cuffs were used by the military and not by the civilian police.

This pair of cuffs with the arrow are definitely made by Ruben Craddock & Sons and not by Hiatt. I would expect to see a date under the letters RCS. In your last picture there is a feint mark which is likely to be the date. Can you make anything out?

The number 2772 is a serial number and is normally stamped on the key as well. If it's not it could mean that the key is not the one originally issued with the cuffs. I have quite a few pairs of these RCS handcuffs with numbers ranging from 370 up to 3924 and actually have a pair 2771 which is one away from yours. This now makes we wonder if each pair had a different number as it a bit of a coincidence that I have a pair so close in number to yours. Maybe people can post the numbers on their RCS cuffs to see if there is some sort of pattern.

The fact that the other cuff has a different number on is a little puzzling maybe they were assembled from two different pairs of handcuffs. I'm sure that originally they would have been joined by two links with a swivel between them. Most likely the bar was added later and done privately and not by the factory.

Its pretty certain that these cuffs will date from the 1940s and three companies made almost identical handcuffs for the military during this period. Ruben Craddock & Sons who made your pair but cuffs also exist made by a company which marked them J.G and a company who marked them M.C.I.

During WWII the Hiatt factory was bombed which may account for these other companies supplying handcuffs to the military or possibly, however its just speculation that Hiatt started to produce other items for the war effort which could also account for the absence of WWII period Hiatt handcuffs.

Hope this helps,

Mark (RMP)

Damon Shields 14 Sep 2009

Nils-Great job of cleaning up the cuffs. As I was reading Marks description the number 2772 sounded familiar. It is the same serial number as I have on a pair of RCS'. I would guess that the serial number may be restarted with each year. My pair is 1945.

RestraintsBlog 14 Sep 2009

#10

I have been looking for a similar WWII set of Darbies like that for a while and wonder if anyone has a set they are interested in selling.

I got my hands on a set a couple months ago off eBay but the key ended up being stuck in the cuffs so I had to return them.

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http://restraintsblog.blogspot.com/

lauher 14 Sep 2009

#11

The number 2772 is not a serial number. It is the British military model (or part) number for the cuffs.
So you will find many examples with this same number.

Joe

Damon Shields 14 Sep 2009

#12

Thanks Joe-

Restraint- there is an RCS on ebay #300347772391 that may meet your need.

Damon

Anonymous 15 Sep 2009

#13

so, what does your German ball and chain look like

Edri 21 Sep 2009

#14

Nils,
I'd have to agree that these are not as manufactured for all the same reasons you already stated and are simply re-assembled parts. I also highly doubt they were assembled in that manner for any police /corrections or miltary purpose. There simply isnt any purpose or reason to go to all that effort to restrain someone in that way ( bent over legs/wrists wide apart)for police/corrections or military use. On the other hand it IS a popular way to restrain someone for bondage/ SM purposes and would hazard a guess that someone got creative with old parts they could scrounge for that purpose.

Edri