I have Incoming Dowler Nippers from ebay, any info, please?

I have incoming Dowler Nippers from ebay on their way. They are marked as Dowler made, but, based on some readings I came across online, they may have been made by Hiatt, or some other firm, for Dowler.
The description on ebay had them as being nippers used by English Police during the 1950's to 1960's, but since it also had them listed as being made of stainless steel, I pretty much doubt all the information in that description.
What can you folks tell me about these? When did Dowler stop offering them? Anyway to tell, based on these auction pics, what it's vintage may actually be?
Any info you can share with me, I will greatly appreciate. Much thanks in advance ☺

The following info is what I mentioned I had found and read online concerning a set of handcuffs that were marked as Dowler, but possibly having been made by Hiatt, rather than by Dowler in house...

British firm of Wm. Dowler & Sons, Great Charles Street, Birmingham (established 1774). This set likely was made by Hiatt, as Hiatt Chairman G. W. Cross relates, "We believe that W. Dowler was not a manufacturer, but merely a distributor or retailer of handcuffs, and possibly other police supplies, which had 'private labels' made by ourselves. We believe that W. Dowler was in business sometime between the 1880's and 1920's."

My continued reading seems to place Dowler as still being in business for decades beyond the quoted info above. I am not sure when, or if, they went out of business.
Again, my main goal is to try to get an idea of when these incoming Dowler Nippers were made. Even if I can uncover when Dowler last offered them, it would start to really narrow it all down to it's circa.
It seems the Hiatt stamped models of this version are much more common than the Dowler specimens, and as a collector of "things", that is what made up my mind about bidding on them. It was almost towards the end of the auction when I decided to bid, and was not planning on any sort of bidding war to try and get them. I simply placed the bid, and later went back to see if I had won. I wound up being the only bidder, so it worked out just fine.
My readings on Dowler, thus far, seems to place Dowler as being more known for making whistles, than cuffs or nippers. In any case, the information gathering is at least half the fun for me in owning such gadgets within my collection.
It does seem like my small collection of restraining devices, is leaning towards come-alongs/nippers. I'm planning on a display that will house some vintage to new cuffs and nippers. It won't be as inclusive as someone would maybe expect from a person that focuses on such items, but more of a limited sampling. That will fit in more with my very eclectic collecting hobby, which is not focussed on any one type of thing, but rather quite random and diverse in nature ☺
I hope to gather more info about these Dowler Nippers here, since I seem to have run into a dead end in discovering any more info via other websites that concern these items.
Always much thanks for any insights you can share with me ☺

Dowler was an old company with roots in the early 19th century.  They made somethings themselves, but I do not think they  ever made their own cuffs. I have several Dowler handcuffs and a couple of nippers and they all look very similar to the cuffs that Hiatt made.  But it is possible that they could have also been made by Hudson.  We know that Hudson made whistles and they are acknowledged to have made handcuffs.

Thank you for sharing some further insight, Sir ☺
As for dating this particular piece, is that realistically possible?
Also, my reading your post, I gather that Dowler is in fact out of business... And if so, when abouts did they close up?
Another thing does confuse me, the dates of which are given for the Dowler business. I had read one source placing the establishment of a Dowler firm as 1774, Wm. Dowler & Sons, Great Charles Street, Birmingham), was this not the one and the same Dowler firm of later years in which you, (and another source), state to having been started in the late 1800's?
Sorry to pick your brain some more, but I do find such details facinating ☺

I think the firms were all related over the centuries.  Although there would have been all sorts of changes in ownership.
There are cuffs marked WD&S that I think are cuffs sold by Dowler in the 20th century.
I do not have a good date for the end of Dowler, but I would guess about the 1920s.

Here is one source for the 1774 establishment date of the Dowler firm, (if in fact it's one and the same with the name on my incoming nippers). If so, they seem to have diversified from a brass foundry, into a business where many types of goods became their specialty.

Oops, here is that link...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/W_Dowler_%26_Sons

Here is the description the auction for my incoming nippers had on ebay...

This Sale brings to you these Vintage, Highly Collectible, Rare, Antique British Made Handcuffs Come Along made by Dowler and used in the 1950's and 1960's by the British Birmingham Police Force in the United Kingdom.

These Come Along have been in storage since the early 1990's.

Stainless Steel.

So, as you can see, there seemed to be some things that did not seem correct.
The mistakes were likely innocent enough, but mistakes they still seemed to be. The stainless steel part was definitely off. I also felt that their police use during the 1950's to 1960's, although maybe true, seemed like a poor gauge for when they may have actually been made.
If your guess of Dowler going out of business by the 1920 period, that should place the nippers at the 100 or more years old catagory, (qualifying for a true antique status).
I do appreciate your input, sir... Thank you! ☺

Weight: 7.6 Oz without packing

And sorry about the 7.6 oz part at the bottom of my previous post. It was part of the description on ebay for the nippers ☺

Another online souce lists some Dowler company info as follows...

William Dowler & Sons Limited 1774 - 1969
NATIONALITY: British
BASED: Birmingham, Borough of Birmingham, West Midlands, England, United Kingdom
Founded 1774, probably as Thomas Dowler of Great Charles St., Birmingham. Amalgamated with Firm in in 1969. The company also made whistles.

That would place them many decades further in their existence, but I don't know if they were offering such things as their nippers during all that time.

hi jimmy , if you have not done so go back to first page and type in dowler at the top in search , think you will find it interesting goes back year's of thread's

LK D~D

I have noticed that s few pics of Dowler nippers I have come across online, have the stamp as "W. Dowler", where as the one I have coming my way is stamped "Dowler" only.
I wonder if that in itself could be a clue about it's vintage?

Well, my Dowler come-along/nippers arrived today. It's nice when an online purchase meets or exceeds expectations, with this one exceeding the pics that were shown of them online.
Anyhow, I went over them with a fine tooth comb, hoping to find some possible other markings to help me with clues that may lead to discovering it's vintage, but to no avail. It simply has the company brand name "Dowler" on them, so that's all I have to go on.
Again, I have seen some pics online with them being marked as "W. Dowler", but this one simply has "Dowler".
Although I have no idea what it's true vintage may be, they will certainly make for a nice representation within my collection of "gadgets"

I forgot to mention something during this thread about something I have noticed... That is, that not only are the mechanical nippers/come-alongs seemingly much more rare in the field of restraints, (when compared to the abundance of leg irons and handcuffs, but that the more rare seem to be what they would call "chain come-alongs".
My searches on various online auction sites, seem to turn up few of the chain come-alongs.
Not only were they likely less used and purchased to begin with, (when compared to handcuffs), but I imagine that they were more easily discarded by folks as time went on.
Heck, most folks running into a set of them in some drawer, and maybe not knowing what they are, would likely toss them in the trash.
Handcuffs, on the other hand, more likely to have been held onto.

Anyone know of a dowler leg iron ?

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

I have never seen or heard of any Leg Irons that have been stamped "Dowler." As far as I know, they only made a few models of Darby style handcuffs and nippers.
-Richard Knip-

I am not sure if Hiatt made this cuff for Dowler as it is a bit more petite than a regular Hiatt Superintendent cuff and I have never seen any other Hiatt marked cuffs similar to this.