William Elair Werd

William Elair Werd received a patent on January 21, 1908 for "Tongs" (Pat. #877,389). In his patent application he states that these could be used as handcuffs. Although Werd was born in Texas in 1873, by 1906 he was a resident of Montana.  He received 7 patents between 1906 and 1913 including one for an animal trap, another for a wire insulator and a third for a spike puller. Werd lived in Deer Lodge through 1908 and then moved to Roundup, Montana. Deer Lodge was the home to the Montana State Prison, erected in 1871 and perhaps Werd got the idea about his nipper from someone in that prison, just a guess.  His nipper was made and marked Mont. Roundup Nipper Co., likely because of Roundup, Montana. The only publication I have found that advertised this nipper was The Detective, a police journal.  It was in the August, 1908 issue and was called the Madison Automatic Nipper.  The ad incorrectly states Pat. Jan. 1, '08. The editor of The Detective, P.C. Holland states, "Safest and best we have ever handled". Nevertheless it was never advertised in this publication again. 

Matt

The "Round Up Nipper" for reference purposes. Pic is from the Gallery for the forum. It was shown as being made in "1908." -Richard Knip-