Help me identify

Can anyone help me identify when these cuffs/shackles were made. They are iron and have a screw key mechanism.
Thank You!

The cuff on the left is believed to be German and the screw lock is similar to your LI, so my guess is that they are both crafted there.

Nice leg iron!

Thank you very much. I found more info
and they are called “Rankin Leg Irons”
and the screw in lock mechanism patented and filed in Philadelphia in 1866 (Civil war era).

Doesn't look like a Rankin mechanism or cuff. Looks English to me but I need to see the key hole and nut inside it. Is the keyhole threaded to take a plug?

mkopaciewicz wrote: ↑

Sep 09, 2024

Thank you very much. I found more info
and they are called “Rankin Leg Irons”
and the screw in lock mechanism patented and filed in Philadelphia in 1866 (Civil war era).

Absolutely not Rankins!
These are Europeanish, but I still say German.  

The American made Rankin does share a screw key design, but only to unlock it.  Your item needs a key to lock and unlock it.  Basically, the key is a screwdriver and there are no springs in your leg iron.  The Rankin has a spring that pushes the latch/bolt onto the shackle when snapped shut.

You are correct! This does not have a spring (see pics). Do you think it was manufactured pre civil war? I’m trying to date when it was made.

Here’s the key hole side.

mkopaciewicz wrote: ↑

Sep 10, 2024

Here’s the key hole side.

My guess is late 19th century.  1870 -1890.

My German cuff has pretty much the same slotted internal nut that spins onto the threaded post.
Just a guess.  Maybe older.

Thank You! I appreciate it

mkopcaciewicz, thanks for supplying great photos. 
Every detail suggests English to me.

mkopaciewicz wrote: ↑

Sep 10, 2024

Here’s the key hole side.

Yes, the body style highly resembles a British design, but I have never seen a lock like this on anything other than on German cuffs.
Typically, these screw locking cuffs are mostly connected to France.  I have a few that operate with screwdriver style keys, but the double bitted key design is not known in anything French that I am aware of.
Both your LI and my cuffs (I didn't realize that I had 2 of these German "8" cuffs with almost identical characteristics) feature the same slotted screw system.

The top one is closer to your example with the lock body attached along the cuff body
and
The lower one is slightly detached and mounted to a raised plate.



French screw key circle cuffs usually take a triangular shaped key and the more plentiful Rivolier cuffs use a screw with only a notch along the outside circumference of the key.