Cuff of the Day for April 6

Good Morning Monday to all.
This is our cuff of the day stream.  Please post a picture of one of your favorite cuffs.

My cuff for today is a the Runquist Shackle

In April of 1872 Peter Runquist of Steilacoom City in the state of Washington received a patent for an “Improvement in Convicts Shackles”. (Patent Number: 130872) The invention was claimed to be a security improvement on the Gardner shackle patented six years earlier in 1866. (Patent Number: 54889). 

The picture shows the patent model of the Runquist Shackle.   

It is not a very sophisticated cuff. Closed with two rivets it has no lock and no hinge.
Does anyone have one of these in their collection?  I don't know if they were ever sold.

Joe

Joe,

A very interesting device indeed. The name of the inventor, Peter Runquist, sounds very Swedish to me.
Well , lots of people from Sweden immigrated to America in 19.th and 20.th century.

The cuff of April 6
 
Unlike Sweden, Finland produced a great number of odd handcuffs - but in very small numbers.  
The Finnish language is very odd too, which makes it almost impossible to search for information.
 
I have come to specialize on Finnish cuffs as I find them very odd, interesting, and extremely well made with a great level of craftmanship.
 
Today’s cuff is a Tower imitation which I acquired about a year ago. They didn’t come with a key, so I had to figure out the construction and make working key myself. It turned out that the key must have a protruding top (like for standard Kakola). Unlike most other Finnish Tower imitations, these double lock. They also have a left and a right side which is also is uncommon. Compared to ordinary Tower, these are more sturdy and heavier and they are not casted.
 
They are stamped “Kakola 1920” which indicate they have been in use at the infamous Kakola prison in Åbo, Finland. I unfortunately have no further information on them.
 
 Lars

Peter Runquist was an interesting person. He was born in 1824(6) in Hanover County Virginia and died in 1899 in Steilacoom, Washington State.  Along the way he married his wife, Sophia, in 1866. He came to Steilacoom in  after serving in the Army ( discharged August 20, 1853) during the Mexican war,  as a blacksmith and farrier. According to the Steilacoom Historical Museum Association he operated four different blacksmith shops in Steilacoom. He ran an ad in 1883 in a local paper stating, "P. Runquist BLACK-SMITH Steilacoom W.T., Parties that have had their horses shod at my shop once never go elsewhere."  In the book, Tacoma: its history and its builders; a half century of activity, by Herbert Hunt and written in 1916 mentions Runquist. He states in part, "Runquist was a blacksmith and he made hoes, rakes and plows for the farmers...... Runquist removed to Steilacoom and became a blacksmith to the garrison. His shop used to be pointed out as a place where Captain, afterward General, Grant dropped in now and then to talk to Runquist of their Mexican war days."

If today's theme is patent models I can stick to this one. This is a patented model of the J.M. Trackwell Shackle Patented April 4, 1882 

Fred
- very neat.  Can you open it?  It looks like it takes a special tool.
The Runquist shackle I posted is riveted shut.
Joe

Matt - Thanks for the info on Runquist.  Makes me like the shackle all the more knowing more about him.
Lars - Nice cuff. Is the lock case thicker than a Tower?

Joe unfortunately it's not a working pat. model

Joe,

The entire cuff is both thicker and bigger. And so are the bows. See photos for comparison.

Lars

Sure wish these were mine, but they can currently be seen in the George Hill Collection.
They use a similar tool to open them which is similar to Fred's interesting sample

<ark
O--O

This is my set of leg irons, that have a leather insert for each side. Im pretty sure the chain is not what originally would have been put on this piece. The seller listed them as a Civil War relic and had a ridiculous price to match. They ran on a sale site for over 4 months. I threw a relatively low offer, compared to his original asking price, and he accepted it! These had two padlocks on them when I got them. The padlocks were of a style and manufacturer that would have dated to about 1900 era. I was able to pick the locks and remove them. Now, the cuffs sit without locks in my collection. Just dont much more about them or their history.
-Richard Knip-

Not a Patent Model but Possibly a Smith & Wesson Model-95 Military prototype?

In 2012, while attending the SHOT show in Las Vegas, I met Herb Belin, S&W Handgun Product Manager & Director, Emerging Technologies (now retired), at the Smith & Wesson Display Center. I discussed my interest in Smith & Wesson’s involvement in handcuffs & restraints, and my collection with him. I gave him a CD copy of my research. About a week later, after returning back home, I received an email from Herb stating, he was sending me a package; a few days later it arrived. The box contained a S&W store display stand and several handcuffs. Included in this gift box, was a taped closed, brown handcuff box, with an end label, military marked similar to the printed information on the top of the M-95 boxes. Herb stated that he had no information on these black cuffs, only that he found them while going through an old cabinet in the plant basement. Here is what I found:

A blued pair of Model 90 type handcuffs with all the markings included on the M-90’s, including a serial number of 143521. The right cuff latch pivot pin had been removed and a two-piece brass tag with a wire that ran through the latch pivot pin hole & through the right cuff swivel. On one side of the tag was stamped DCTSC & the opposite side 11476. Upon doing some research, I found, on August 31,1961, Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara announced a new agency as the Defense Supply Agency (DSA 1961-1977). It was formally established on October 1, 1961. By Jan. 1, 1962 The DSA controlled six commodity-type and two service-type single managers. One of these, was the Defense Clothing & Textile Supply Center (DCTSC). 
I have not been able to find the significance of the number 11476.
The plain two-piece brown box had an end label printed:
8465-242-7860
HANDCUFF     1 EACH
DSA-1-3220-64    A-11/63
The numbers 8465-242-7860 represent the National Stock Number for Handcuffs, and the date is November 1963.

In a 1968 document titled, Air Force Reserve Operations Plan - 355-10, Nickname ‘Garden Plot’  Directorate of Plans, Deputy Chief Of Staff, Plans, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia 31093, I found Under Appendix I, Annex O, Equipment For Deployment Forces, Riot Control Associated Equipment TA-538 - Security And Law Enforcement Organizational Equipment:
  FSN NOMENCLATURE
8465-242-7860       Handcuffs, 2 key Rachet

My thought is that S&W submitted these for approval by the military, for the soon to follow M-95 Handcuffs, minus all the stampings & serial numbers, except for the S&W logo.

Added at the end are two production M-95,s, one dated March 1970 & the other August 1972.

Dave

Mark, that cuff is very high on my wanted list! But it's extremely rare.

One of my favorite sets is this combination marked "USN 1862". That said, I'm not even 100% sure of it's authentic. This one, or one like it, was also part of the Zearing collection. I think I had a photo somewhere.

 Not sure if todays topic is old leg irons or patent models.  This is the oldest piece in my collection. Not my kind of thing
but one is ok. To open first unlock with the key and then pry open with the wedge bar.

  Now for a patent model   The  Wisner patent model.

If today is “inventor’s model” or prototype day, here’s mine. No idea who made them or if they were ever produced. The one on
the left kind of looks like a Murphy, but that’s a wild guess. One on the right, no idea.

I’m not a nipper guy, so all thoughts appreciated


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Murphy(?) right. Unk left.


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So many good things today. 
Gordon - I think your Wisner model is great.
Brad - I love your nippers.  They are truly one of a kind.
Joe