A few cuffs I saw in a museum earlier this month

Hi everyone,

I was recently in a small History Museum, and was lucky to see some cuffs on display there. Nothing all that unusual or pristine, but still fascinating.


I believe these are Maltby handcuffs. They may have been the model with a spring loaded closure, whereby the wrist presses the inner lever (flush with cuff body in picture) and that causes the swing arm to close. I have never seen these in person, but this is the information I have gathered over time. If anyone knows more about them, please comment!

Above are what I believe are Iver Johnson handcuffs? They have the same single long link and connecting hinge as Union Hardware Towers handcuffs, but appear to have a smaller key way than Iver handcuffs I have seen online. These particular cuffs were cut on the lower part of the bow. While I believe these are an adjustable cuff, they also appear quite small; having never held a pair myself, I can't say, but between that and the odd key way I wondered if they may have been a reproduction.

Finally we have a nice set of Towers Double Lock leg irons, which look to be original.

None of these had any in depth information or even makers name, and as such were sort of generic period artifacts with little background. They didn't even bother to straighten the chain!
On that note, I recently received two replacement keys for my own Towers leg irons from Ian, and they work perfectly. I was examining them and realized yesterday that the 'waffle' link chain is designed to lay flat, but, lacking a swivel, it can be twisted in either direction. The interesting discovery was that from a properly oriented 'flat' lay of the links, it can be twisted one direction, binding the chain, but in the other direction, it will appear randomly oriented as above, but will soon reach a flat lay in the OTHER orientation, at which point further twisting will once again bind the chain.

Does anyone know why Towers used this unique chain pattern? Simply to stand out from other makers? Was there some other rational behind it?

I am tentatively calling my collection "complete", for the time being anyway. I still browse eBay auctions regularly, and there are a few more items I would enjoy having, namely Clejuso darby adjustable leg irons and Bean Cobb leg irons, but I have most of what I've wanted, aside from a few modern items that would be easy to get at any time. I will have one or two more parts of my ongoing series "Modern Vintage" over the coming weeks, and hopefully one or two of the last parts of the puzzle that is my complete collection.

What in the world will I do at that point? Travel the world, I suppose...keeping an eye out for interesting vintage restraints, obviously!

Iver Johnson is actually Bean . Iver johnson has either barrel key or flat steel

Agreed. The cuffs labeled Iver Johnson, are Standard bean patrolman or prison handcuffs. I still have a hard time, telling patrolman and prison cuffs apart. Weighing them, is the only way I can do it. Prison being heavier. All Maltby cuffs are the spring action closure cuffs. They were made by Mattatuck. They also made the Judd and the Mattatuck. The latter two, did not have the spring mechanism for closure. All of Mattatuck's designs were complicated. They all have a way to turn the key and disengage the lock. This allows the cuff arm to travel in and out of the lock body without engaging. Once opened to their farthest point, the mechanism will click. On the Judd and the Maltby, this activates the lock mechanism again and once the arm enters the cuff body, will lock the arm into place with the ratcheting sound. The Maltby is the more advance as once opened to its farthest point, the spring arm jumps up and holds the cuff arm open. Once you press the cuff against a person's wrist, like a mousetrap, it springs shut and locks down. All of Mattatuck's designs were complicated in their workings, but troublesome in their use and longevity. If the key was turned wrong on a standard Mattatuck, it was easy to get the discs out of alignment and screw up the operation of the lock. The round (tri-key) Judd and Maltby were prone to having the keys or key post, strip out if turned to aggressively.

As far as why the Tower chains were twisted, I dont know. If you find a Tower style cuff with flat links, then it is a Balco Leg iron. Balco used a flat link, but with a similar Tower design to the actual cuff. They are more rare and considered to be more valuable that the standard Tower Leg Irons.

Alex R. Nichols has a set of 2 books. "A Guidebook To Handcuffs and Other Restraints of The World Vol 1 and Vol 2." These books are full of information and pictures of cuffs you maybe havent seen yet. I suggest getting a copy of both. Vol1 is more important than Vol 2, if you can only afford one of them. One thing I find maddening at collecting handcuffs and restraints, is the number of variations of 1 model of handcuff! I made the mistake in trying to collect them all! LOL! Im at 671 pairs, currently, and just touching the tip of the iceberg. I do not have the means, nor the room to even come close to collecting "everything" out there. The main thing to remember is to have fun with collecting. Dont let it become a "job." The thrill for many of us, is in the hunt. I have passed on many cuffs in my search. Thinking the cuff was common and would come up again or the asking price was too high. Deals are out there, if you are patient and search for them. I wish you the best, in the hunt for the ones you like!
-Richard Knip-

Thank you, both, for pointing out that the second pair of handcuffs is in fact Bean, either patrolman or prison model. They do look similar to the Iver Johnson, but I have not had the chance to see those up close.

Thank you djhalfdead for the further information on the Maltby handcuffs. I did not realize they were made by the makers of the Judd and Mattatuck. It is interesting to hear that these had such complex mechanisms; I remember when I took apart the lock of my Bean Cobbs, my overwhelming impression was that it was almost like clockwork in its complexity of small parts operating together just so. That sort of mechanical work is really quite elegant.

It's too bad that sometimes the complex inner workings will fail. I suppose that is one reason why I am so partial to darby cuffs, with their simple and effective mechanisms.

Hi Mario Manzini here.