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Romer stampings

15 visible archived posts · 15 preserved total · topic ID 5301

John Bushey 07 May 2013

HI,
Here are some photos of some of my Romer handcuffs and legirons. The first photo shows the three sizes of handcuffs.
My small handcuff and brass leg iron have a different stamping,shown in the last photo below.
It has the the company on the left and patent on the right.
The normal stamping is shown on the rest of my cuffs and the third photo.

I've also seen them stamped with Manufactured for Walton Bros., NY. Does anyone else have this Walton Bros. stamping? Any other markings on Romers?
Thanks much, John

Three sizes of Romer Handcuffs

The normal stamping of Romer restraints.

One of two variants of stampings with patent on right and company on left.

Paul Davies 07 May 2013

Hi John,
you have seen these leg irons, but I thought the photo might be worthwhile.
I am looking for a pair of cuffs.

Regards
Paul

John Bushey 07 May 2013

HI Paul,
Thanks! So you got them! Wow, very interesting. There are several variations of the stampings.
The Walton Bros. of NY have their name of the patents of the Houston, Broom and Wood, and of course the Palmers.
I find it fascinating they were also selling Romers (evidently)??? 1874, 1875, 1876, and 1880 -

I do own the following for Romers:

Small size Romer handcuff
Medium size Romer handcff
Large size Romer Handcuff (actually small leg iron body, with smaller more rounded bow, made to a one-link extra large handcuff)
Small Leg Iron
Large Leg Iron
Large solid Brass Leg Iron

I've been invited to research through the bulk of the original paperwork from the Romer/Climax Co., including board notes, receipts, etc.....
They have the notes of when they changed the name to Climax, and why. The curators never spent any time looking into the restraint end of things -
I will!

Paul--thanks for posting. I'd love permission to use photos of your leg irons and markings as I progress through the research project and
start writing about the Romer Co.

Best wishes, John

Ron Spitz 08 May 2013

Hi John--Tried to get a good picture of the markings on my leg irons. They are very lightly marked and hard to read.

WALTEN.ROMERS
NEWARK N
PAT. AP8

Can't read the J for Jersey or the complete date. It looks like it could be PAT APP FOR but can read only the first three letters and the 8 (eight) does not make much sense.

Hope this adds to your information.

Ron

John Bushey 08 May 2013

Ron,
Is it me, or are your letters raised and not stamped into the metal? Very interesting if that is the case.
JOHn

Mark Lyons 09 May 2013

John,

It must be you.
They look stamped and NOT coined to me.

My 2 cents (pun intended)

mark
O--O

Ron Spitz 09 May 2013

Hi John---they are stamped not raised.

Ron

Paul Davies 09 May 2013

I would suggest Ron's would say Walton, Romer & Co. the & could look like an S.
That suggests a partnership of some sort doesn't it?

Ron Spitz 09 May 2013

Paul--you are correct. Looking at the markings with a better magnifing glass and light, the marking is WALTON, ROMER & CO.

It is hard to tell if the mark after WALTON IS A .(period) or a ,(comma). I would assume it should be a comma even thou is looks like a period.

Since the irons are in great condition they just did a poor job of stamping.

Ron

Ian mcColl 09 May 2013

#10

Hi Ron, would a pencil rub on paper over the stamping show up more??

Ian

Ron Spiz 10 May 2013

#11

Hi Ian--I don't think so. I really changed the contrast with Photoshop. That's why it may look like the letters were raised. Even using a x10 magnifying glass with different angles of lighting I can't see more details. This one must have been stamped at the end of the day on a Friday when everyone was tired.
I'll give it a try anyway if I can find a pencil.

Ron

John Bushey 10 May 2013

#12

I never noticed the comman before. Romer's first name was Walton, so the thought it might be two
separate entities did not occur to me. My small handcuff has the same stamping as my brass leg iron
above, but again it's a different size stamping. Some patent dates the "April" is small, and others
large. All interesting stuff. I will post more photos when time permits. And I am thrilled
Ron's is stamped and not raised because now it's one less Romer I'll have to collect!

Best Wishes, John

Ian Mccoll 10 May 2013

#13

"pencils!!!" hmmmmm I remember those days.

Ron Spitz 10 May 2013

#14

Ian--I found a pencil and tried several rubbings without any luck. The best way is by eye and a good magnifier.

John--Interesting that Romer's first name is Walton. This does add a bit of a twist to the stamping like Paul stated. Just another turn in the historical maze.

Hopefully others will add their stampings to the post. We know there are many others out there.

Ron

Steve Santini 10 May 2013

#15

Has anyone here considered the connection between the Romer models marked Walton Bros and the similar stamping on the Palmer manacles?

Seems to me that Walton was either a manufacturer or more likely still a distributor or perhaps both.

Cheers, Steve Santini