The Forum at Handcuffs.Org

Hiat 1980s

12 visible archived posts · 12 preserved total · topic ID 3639

tiedupgood2 05 Aug 2010

I have these on ebay, can anyone tell me anything about them. Like why did Hiat make them in the 80s Thanks DG http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :MESELX:IT

Dorson 05 Aug 2010

Hiatt got away from using using steel and went with die cast metal aka pot metal for the cuff portion. The chains, swivels, springs and maybe the bolt are all steel. I did hear of some cases where the bolt was pot metal and broke off which made things interesting if one was locked in them. Hiatt was trying to make the cuffs cheaper to produce and so they tried this route. I personally think it was a mistake on there part going this route.

tiedupgood2 06 Aug 2010

I would think they would be purchased as a collectors item only. Who would purchase them for actual use. Assuming that, the materials used for construction would not matter much Just a thought. DG

Atame 07 Aug 2010

"Who would purchase them for actual use" - are you serious?!

Best regards,
Guenter

Anonymous 08 Aug 2010

These Hiatt products are actually made of a zinc alloy called "Mazak". It is far superior to mere pot metal, but certainly not as durable as iron or steel. And cuffs made from this alloy can be somewhat brittle. But so are the cast iron cuffs made by some of Hiatt's competitors in the 1800s and early 1900s. This is the importance of the word "wrought" on most Hiatt products. Example; the RCS Boer War handcuffs are cast, and can shatter if dropped. This was a big enough problem that the War Office changed its specs to require "wrought" (forged, as opposed to cast) handcuffs.

Hiatt switched to Mazak purely as a cost cutting measure, of course, and manufactured their Darby-style handcuffs as recently as 10 years ago. Who would buy them? Believe it or not, they were in constant demand from Britain's former African colonies, which had always used Darby-style handcuffs and wished to continue doing so. Ancillary markets, of course, were collectors and S&M enthusiasts.

Dorson 08 Aug 2010

Wish Anonymous would use a real name but oh well.... Mazak is a trade name and is very close to Zamak. Zamak is actually the better alloy and licensed the manufacture in Briton. For a complete explanation read here,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zamak

The other thing that troubles me is using the term cast iron. Generally this implies an iron with a high content of carbon and that material is brittle. Iron with low carbon or no carbon can still be cast and some heat treatment can be done. I am hoping my S. O. while she is up at Pennsic gets to talk to some of the people who do blacksmithing and shed some light on the old techniques and meaning of terms that we see here in the forum.

Edgeplay_Cgo 08 Aug 2010

Yes, steel can be cast. Cast steel is extensively used for fairly heavy products like pump parts and tank treads. It has a lot more toughness than cast iron. Scissors are made of cast steel, so there would be no technical objection to casting cuffs of the stuff.

There is also Malleable Iron, which is an annealed cast iron that can be pretty tough. I know small C-Clamps are made from malleable iron, so there would be no problem making cuffs from the stuff.

Since the Boer 8s were subject to fracture, I suspect they were plain old vanilla grey cast iron.

tiedupgood2 09 Aug 2010

Hi I have never posted before, but read the posts religiously. I have learned a lot. Not just about collecting, but about metals in general. I used to be a welder. But it seams with the good there is the jerks who just have to stir things up. Like maybe Atame LOL Any way I enjoy the posts (like the ones above)where you really learn things. It takes time energy and a lot of knowledge to post some of that stuff. And I for one appreciate it, and learn from it. Keep up the good work. DG

Ian McColl 09 Aug 2010

" Example; the RCS Boer War handcuffs are cast, and can shatter if dropped."

First parts right, I bet $100.00 the second part is dead wrong. Never seen it happen and it didn't happen to mine when I dropped them.

lauher 09 Aug 2010

#10

I agree with Ian, although it has been stated numerous times, I do not think the RCS plug 8 cuffs are very likley to shatter. But if you drop on your foot you might shatter a toe!

On the other hand I have seen the alloy based Hiatt Darbies break. The first one I ever bought was an adjustable style Darby new just out of the box and it broke apart the first time I tried to close it. The casting was simply faulty.

Joe

lauher 09 Aug 2010

#11

I agree with Ian, although it has been stated numerous times, I do not think the RCS plug 8 cuffs are very likely to shatter. But since they are so heavy if you drop on your foot you might shatter a toe!

On the other hand I have seen the alloy based Hiatt Darbies break. The first one I ever bought was an adjustable style Darby new just out of the box and it broke apart the first time I tried to close it. The casting was simply faulty.

Joe

clcl 09 Aug 2010

#12

Bonjour,
First, i apologize for my English but the automatic French/English translator is worse!!!
I had exactly the same problem with the same handcuffs (adjustable HIATT Darbies)
I must add that some aluminium alloys have the same default and i broke an old pair of
"PRESTO LYON" in the same way. Be cautious with some low quality old aluminium alloys.
CLCL