Help identify this piece

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

I think I figured it out...looks like it's a gun rack padlock from the late 1800s. Any additional info would be welcome.

Thank you!

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

If the end of the key is three sides I have seen them as locks on caissons, ammo wagon for field cannons.

Howy
Cincy

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Thanks Howy. The end of the key is round and hollow. Half of the end is cut away so that there's about a 1/8" semi-circle that settles down into the head of the screw inside the shaft so that it turns the screw when you turn the key.

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Hi Broby,

It is a padlock used here in Europe by the French railway(SNCF) to lock certain security boxes.
It was manufactured by Manufrance (France). It dates from the beginning of the 19th century.

Hope this information can help you.

Best regards,
JM Robin
Belgium collector

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Hi,

I have one piece of darby-style modern handcuffs that I would like to ask you for identification.

These handcuffs have an unlocking threaded plug that looks like a square with rounded edges in cross section (unfortunately, I don't have keys for them).

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

They look like an unmarked modern Hiatt alloy (repro) darby. Can't believe I'm gonna ask this, but does a magnet stick to them?

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

This is the last version of this leg iron made by Hiatt Thompson in the USA.

Alloy body, brass bolt, and end cap with a "tooth."

As strange as this may seem, these irons as made by Hiatt Thompson were actually of better quality than the last run of alloy Darby leg irons put out by Hiatt themselves.

Cheers, Steve Santini

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Thank you for the info.

Paul, the only part that sticks to the magnet is the chain.

Do you know what thread the plug uses?
I would like to make a working key but I don't know if the key thread can be made by commonly used taps.

Regards,
Piotr

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Most of the Hiatt darby style handcuffs used a non-standard thread for which taps are not available.. I did have a pair of late Hiatt Leg Irons (alloy not iron or steel) that used a standard 1/4 X 20 thread on the bolt. I believe this was a pair made by Hiatt Thompson, but I am not sure. I have had some success making a tap for older Hiatt cuffs, but it is difficult to positively identify the diameter and thread pitch needed. A 9/32 diameter by 14 TPI works on some Hiatt non adjustable darby cuffs. Once you have the tap, then you also need a lathe to turn the necessary outside diameter and length.

Hope this helps.

Hello, newbie here. I'm looking for help with identifying what this device is. It was in a box with other vintage restraints that my father in law, who recently passed, had collected. The key operates by turning a screw inside the shaft, which allows the loop to swing free. I assumed that it was some kind of thumb restraint because of everything else in the box, but I can easily slip my thumb in and out of it when it's closed. So maybe it's some kind of early padlock?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Click to expand...

Steve, thanks for the info.
I will try finding this tap and if can make a working key this way.

In case it won't work, I have one other idea to use a plastic tube with a hole drilled of a diameter corresponding the handcuffs' bolt minor thread diameter and to try fitting a matching screw to find the correct thread dimensions.

Piotr