Scarce SM Co Darby WW1 Great War British Military M&C 1917 LARGE Handcuffs with Broad Arrow

These are a pair of British MIlitary SM Co (Security Manufacturing Company) pair of HIATT 104 style non-adjustable Darby handcuffs From WW1.

SM Co are only known to have made handcuffs during the first world war, to fulfil government contracts when other manufacturers could not keep up with the demand. These are stamped with the official British military Broad Arrow or Crows Foot stamp, as well as M&C which was a military and government marking of the day. M&C likely stood for Ministry and Civil or Military and Civil. So to have M&C AND also the Broad Arrow is always cool! Dated 1917, as per the stamp. M&C 1917 is stamped very small!

They are a Size 3 large size... If I can spin my wrists around in them, they're big... ! 403 grams in weight. There would be many reasons for handcuffing during The Great War, such as internal soldier discipline if they had tried to desert, or got drunken or such things as well as for prisoner transport.

I had to do some usual maintenance on them. Using Autosol to remove the surface loose red rust to let the dark patina show through, blasting with fully evaporating brake and clutch cleaner, brushing, re-lubricating etc. But once I had finished (and waxed them of course!) they are a really nice pair of handcuffs. And they came with 2 keys! Fully, legitimate working keys. I am very impressed.

Have these been in the trenches subjected to gas attacks, apprehending German military officers? Have they been re-purposed during WW2 or given to reserve units like the Home Guard? Impossible to tell. I was unable to obtain their history because the seller had no direct ties to the original owner.

They work smoothly. This is the first SM Co brand of handcuffs in my collection.

Enjoy!

Totally butchered HIATT Darby handcuffs - Salvaged & turned into a gimmicked set by CoxysPics

Just a quick look at this pair of HIATT darby handcuffs, which are likely from the very very early 1900s, given the font, shape of shackle and the clevis bulge. But they have been absolutely tortured and butchered by someone trying to make them work, because the bolts had been stripped of threading. It's a shame, because it is a nice pair of Darby handcuffs otherwise!

‪@CoxysPicks‬  got them cheap and was able to restore them to function (Video here:    • HIATT Darby - From Broken to functional   ) and turned them into a gimmicked pair for me (they pull open without needing a key), since with that level of butchering done to them in a former life, they are not really a collectors item any longer. He did a great job at getting them working again. Though because of the damage previously done to the end plug on one side, it kept trying to come back out. So I have twice applied some JB Weld MarineWeld, to try and help keep the plug in. It has not totally come out, but it doesn't like to stay perfectly in either. Hopefully this last application will do a better job at keeping the plug on one side properly installed.

This pair does not have WARRANTED WROUGHT on and neither is it a HIATT BEST, so I am wondering if perhaps these were not used by primary police, but by some other person like perhaps security, or something? Still, if you ignore the damaged plugs, they are a rather nice looking old Darby handcuff!

JG 1943 WW2 False Backstrap British Military Darby Handcuffs

These are JG (J.G) Handcuffs from World war 2 ( 1943 ). They are British Army issue and have the Broad Arrow (or crowsfoot as it's sometimes called) stamp very clearly on the lock tube.

These are really cool and heavy handcuffs (605 grams), though strangely are a bit on the small side. I can just about fit my wrists in them but they are certainly not comfortable at all, so I won't be doing an on-body demonstration.

These are a false backstrap, which means the hinge looks like a backstrap but it isn't. Imagine a backpack strap. You have the material end and the other end is a buckle kind of thing. The shackle of the cuff is longer and gets fed through a rectangular hole made in the lock tube and then the shackle tail bit is folded back on itself so that it is permanently linked to the lock tube.A FALSE-backstrap like on this handcuff is opposite. The lock tube does not have a solid rectangular hole made, it has pincers that are poking outwards and the shackle is meaty on the hinge side and has a hole drilled through it. The shackle is placed between the pincers that are part of the lock tube and then the pincers are crimped inwards into the hole that is on the shackle to create a permanent connection and form the hinge.

There is a little crack near the cap end of the lock tune on one of the cuffs that lets light shine through. Though there is more than enough integrity surrounding it so that it's not a security issue or any form of show-stopper. 00:43 shows the crack on the bottom shackle near the right side by the plug end.

All in all, very nice indeed! Very happy to have another world war 2 handcuff in my collection and a British Military one at that! The little nick on the key barrel and the crack in the lock tube leads me to believe these have likely seen some serious action.

Anyway, Enjoy!

A quick comparison of Victorian HIATT 1800s Backstrap Darby handcuffs to my previous ones.

Since these handcuffs are essentially identical to my previous ones, except where the number is stamped and the fact that the key doesn't work in my existing ones, I decided to make a comparison video rather than a full video overview.

These handcuffs were scheduled for recycling at a place that deals with metals, but someone spotted them in a pile of junk metal from a house clearance and decided to list them on eBay. I asked the seller what brand they were and he said they had no brand, only having "HARD" stamped on both shackles. Well he was incorrect. They are HIATT. I was kind of hoping they would be a different brand. But I feel like I have helped rescue them from becoming part of a electric vehicle engine block or something lol.

They are nice, though generally speaking not as nice external quality as my existing ones. The stamping is ok but the HIATT is not quite as deeply stamped as the one side on my existing ones. In person they look not too bad after I did some work to get rid of rust. But on camera here they look a bit dreadful. Weird they look so bad on camera but not too bad in person.

HIATT 104 Approx mid 1800s Genuine Backstrap Darby Victorian Police Handcuffs in GREAT condition

Happy Handcuffs day! (Feb 20th) These are a Victorian pair of HIATT 104 Darby Backstrap handcuffs from the mid - late 1800s.

These differ from my other HIATT 104 handcuffs, in that these are a genuine backstrap or back strap. This means, instead of having a more modern hinge style where the two sections mate and a pin is pushed in to keep them connected, these instead have an elongated tongue at the end of the shackle which is fed through a specially made gap in the lock tube and folded back on itself to create a sturdy hinge. It is quite an elegant system, really.

In the early 1800s, Darby handcuffs had various hinge styles, including backstrap and pinned hinge. There are also later hinges called False backstraps, like on my JG Army handcuffs which was a somewhat similar visual style but instead of folding a tongue over to create the hinge, the shackle was made more chunky and a hole drilled through it, at which point the lock tube would be permanently connected through the hole in the shackle.

I am incredibly happy to have an actual backstrap handcuff in my collection! They had been in the original owner's family for many many years. Handed down. The seller's Granddad had them since before WW2 and I would imagine his dad gave them to him since these are from the 1800s, given this old hinge design. I got a great deal on them. I could not fully tell from the images but once I got them, I knew for sure what I had! They had some surface rust but were in amazing working order. I used a bit of super fine wire wool, some peek metal cleaner, Autosol polish and Renaissance wax polish and now they look a million miles better.

They are less heavy than my other 1800s pair of HIATT, by about 100 grams lighter (these are 397g, whereas my more bulky 1800s pair weigh 496g. They are what I would call a large size. I have somewhat large wrists and there's decent room left when wearing them.

Best estimates I have seen from people with more experience of varying models, are that mine are an early Hiatt backstrap pair from approx 1850 ish (mid 19th century) So at the time of making this video, they are probably 160 years old and still work smoothly!

Enjoy!

J.G 1950s KE 2770 British Military Darby Handcuffs (stamping ground off 😭)

I had a pair of these J.G British Military handcuffs a while back but sold them because they were too small for me to comfortably demonstrate for people.

I was holding out that a larger size would be available but they seem to be always small. Since I had no other false back-strap handcuffs, I decided to get another pair. But unfortunately some military jobsworth ground all the branding and military signage off the cuffs before parting with them. They even ground off the contract number and broad arrow off the keys!!?! 🤬 There are tell-tail traces enough that based on my prior experience I can tell they are J.G and the same KE 2770 contract, however other than detecting that they are from the 1950s (like most I have seen) I cannot tell which specific year in the 50s they come from. It is just loopy beyond comprehension looking at.... well lets call it what it is DEFACEMENT of these really nice handcuffs. You'll see me make a curly gesture going off screen lol. My god. I just can't believe someone would do that. They aren't even personally identifiable markings to any individual. Anyway..

I really like the design of false back-strap because I feel like they are more rugged than a riveted design. Shockingly these are heavy! They weigh 617 grams! The typical darby style handcuff is about 400 on the top end, so these are up there in the meaty category, especially considering I can barely close them on my smaller wrist. It's a lot of metal for a small-medium wrist size cuff...

Over all I am really, really happy to have a pair back in my collection. I will put up with them being small, just to have this design back in my collection. Though, if I find a better looking pair at a decent price in the future, I may swap them out for a better looking pair with stampings intact.

Enjoy!

HIATT 104 (basic) 1949 British Military ᗑ Darby Handcuffs

These are a pair of Hiatt 104 Darby handcuffs. They are from 1949 and are British Military issue, 4 years after WW2.

The mechanism uses a screw key, as most Darby handcuffs. However, the internal bolts' threading is worn/abused and while one cuff (with the crows foot / Broad arrow stamp) works decently enough, the other only works with 1 key out of all keys I have and only if I am careful, slow and lose while initially turning. So, I will not be doing an on-person demo of them because I do not want to have to destroy them to get them off me or anyone else.

They do not have any markings like BEST, WARRANTED WROUGHT or HARD. So, these are likely a more budget model of lesser quality/ruggedness after the war when things were tight due to the country trying to rebuild. The damage on the threading makes sense to me in light of the presumed lower-grade quality & strength, because if they were hardened, they would have been stamped HARD and the fact it has no such stamp means they are made (likely) of softer more wear-prone steel.

They are size 1. I did try them on initially. On my wrists they are snug and fit ok, but if I flex out my hands to separate my fingers the max distance, I can feel the discomfort on my wrists.

They have a very nice Broad Arrow or Crows foot stamp on the hinge of one bracelet. Not obscured or worn, still very easily visible! I like this.

It is a pity they are not in better-working condition, but due to a poll I posted, 75% of people said they would keep them regardless of their lack of ability to function properly, so I have decided to officially welcome them into my collection 😀

Enjoy!

HIATT 101 Superintendent Lightweight British Darby Handcuffs Pre WW1 with original key

These are the British lightweight HIATT model 101 Darby handcuffs, known as Superintendent model. These are pre WW1 / WWI / World War 1 / The Great War. They were listed in the Hiatt's 1904 catalogue. I am not sure when they were actually first released but my pair "just" pre-dates The Great War.

These weigh 265 grams. They have an extra chain link on either side of the swivel. They are about the same over-all length as a normal pair of model 104 Darby handcuffs because the chain links used are smaller.

The swivel is also smaller and lighter and the shackle or bow is thinner in width than the average Darby handcuff. All this goes towards lowering the weight. An average Darby handcuff weighs approximately 400 ish grams. But here's a list of my other darby weights, so you can see a comparison for how light these are:

265g HIATT Superintendent model 101 (the pair in this video)

390g R.C.S Military model 104 style.
402g Model 104  M&C 1916
404g Model 104 1930s
413g Model 104 M&C 1915
490g Model 104 Large (late 1800s)
848g Chunky Model 104 basic design British Indian Army WW2

In 1904 this model would have sold for about 6.5 shillings, while the standard model 104 would have cost about 5 shillings. Apparently these were often used by the MET police in London, but elsewhere were not as widely carried as standard, due to the increased cost. This is why you see many more model 104 for sale than 101 superintendents. Check the pinned comment for a picture of what a Superintendent looked like in 1920. No wonder they needed lighter, thinner handcuffs! Very little places to carry anything!

U.M.W British Indian Army Darby Military Handcuffs WW2 era VERY HEAVY! Behind back demo also.

These are from the British Raj period, during the World War 2 era. These are a model 104 style Darby handcuff that were made in India for the British Indian Army.

These old WW2 handcuffs have an extremely high quality of production, according to experts these are much better quality than India's modern handcuffs. They use a higher security mechanism which is similar to one Hiatt called "The Sheffield Pattern", which swaps around the male and female parts so that the inside of the handcuffs looks like you'd expect a Darby handcuffs key to look like and the key looks like what you'd expect to see inside a Darby handcuff!

The springs are so strong that I am pretty much incapable of snapping them closed. Since getting them this morning I have managed to get one to snap but it took me ages and a LOT of effort to get it to snap shut. So, unless you're Hercules, you really need to use the key when locking them.

They are a large size, with a nice rounded shape. I can even spin my wrists around in them, so they must be big! But the weight is off the charts. 848 grams! They are in a similar weight/comfort category as the modern Clejuso model 13. They are heavy but they are pretty comfortable.

I love these things. I am so happy to have a pair in my collection. They don't make them like they used to! These are epic.

Enjoy!

Hiatt 115 Steel Adjustable Darby Handcuffs 1950 era (gimmicked by a magician or escapeologist)

This is an early pair of Hiatt 115 Steel Adjustable Darby Handcuffs from the 1950s. The classic Victorian design Darby handcuff only has 1 size. It is what it is. Either you have a small pair, a medium size pair or a large pair, but whatever you have on you is the only wrist size you can handcuff. These adjustable ones were to offer a police officer the ability to have all sizes of handcuffs in one handcuff.

The early models were made from steel, while later ones were made of cheap pot metal. The key I have is a pot metal key from a later pair.

These were the precursor to the modern style of swing-through handcuffs used by British police. Swing-through cuffs had been invented many years before, but because of costs, weren't adopted as a style in Britain until 1960 when Hiatt made their 1960 pattern.

This pair I have, has at some time been modified by a previous owner who was either into magic or escaping handcuffs. They have been gimmicked. When I received them, all but the last 2 teeth had been gimmicked, meaning you can get out of them by a sharp and hard yank outwards unless they were closed to the 2 smallest sizes. This technique of leaving the last 2 teeth is so they can be put on a small assistant and they can be tested as being secure, but when placed on the larger wrists of the magician, can be escaped without a key.

Since they were already gimmicked anyway, I decided to file 1 more tooth on both bracelets so that my wrist size has no ability to get locked in them, as the one key I have is a bad quality pot metal key that if damaged, could be annoying.

I was hoping they would be a normal pair of Hiatt 115. They were sold as "Good working condition" which depending on how you look at it, is true. They do "work" but they are not a secure pair of handcuffs as they had been intended to be when they were manufactured. So I am a bit disappointed. But they will do as a placeholder pair of handcuffs which help illustrate the journey through time of British police handcuff evolution.

They are relatively comfortable and when handcuffed behind your back, they are very restrictive that would make it difficult for someone to access their keyring or things from their pockets. Your hands are side by side, horizontally.

Enjoy.

HIATT Model 104 M&C 1915 British Military World War 1 Darby Handcuffs Broad Arrow Stamp & has ORIGINAL case

These are a pair of Hiatt Model 104 Ministry and Civil 1915 Darby handcuffs. These are a British military pair. Exactly the same as my younger 1916 model, these 1915 are slightly heavier though and not plated. So these would have been made 1 year into WW1 (world war 1 also known as The Great War).

They also have the broad arrow or crows-foot stamp on them, which apparently is not often seen, since the presence of M&C already denoted they were military issue. M&C was non-combat/war related, so my theory is perhaps they were broad arrow stamped because they actually made it to the field of battle and the presence of the broad arrow may have been preferable since it was on most of their other stuff? I do not know, this is just my theory.

They are size 2 and just fit my wrists (same size as my plated shiny pair of 1916). So these would likely be a medium size. Comfortable enough for my wrists. I take a size large in gloves and I'm absolutely not a skinny person... So bare these things in mind when judging sizing if you acquire a pair.

I am assuming these have been well-used because when you turn the key, the pawl plug it's self actually twists a bit, meaning the square hole it fits into is not as tight fitting, so there is some slop in the movement internally. So I think they have probably seen a lot of use, though I doubt they are in danger of being worn out.

When I saw these on eBay, I assumed someone had found an old leather pouch that they fit in, but it turns out after looking more into it and asking around that this is absolutely a genuine leather belt case to hold them in, with a nice lobster claw connector so the key can spin freely without having to be unclipped, while being easy to unclip if the key needed to be handed to someone else.

The key number matches the handcuffs, which is nice. This key perfectly fits my 1916 pair but does not nicely work in any of my other cuffs. I won't abuse this key to try and get it's threading working in my other cuffs, I have enough keys for those, so I will leave this key as-is. It's a nice complete whole set!

I did have to do quite a bit of spraying solvents and oil in to get some gunk out. I have used peek polish and renaissance wax on both the cuffs and key as well as the leather case.

I love this little set! I shall keep it all together in my box, rather than separate everything. Normally cases are in some drawer, keys are centralised in my safe, but in this case I will leave it all intact.

Enjoy!

HIATT BEST 104 Darby Large Size Handcuffs Late 1800's - very early 1900's

These are amazingly nice! They are a pair of 104 Hiatt best darby handcuffs of the large size. They are most likely the oldest handcuffs I own. Though I have no hard date, they are from between the late 1800's up to pre 1920.

These have a bulge where the clevis (connector which connects the chain links to the bow) being inserted in the bow causes the bulge. In later years they minimised this bulge.

They are marked with WARRANTED WROUGHT, though there's a lot of wear on the engraving. However you can see a comparison on the video which shows a later pair which has the stamping intact vs these. They are also marked HARD signifying that they are made from hardened steel.

They are pretty comfortable and are the heaviest darby cuffs I own at this point in time. They weigh 496 grams.

They came with no key, but luckily I have 2 keys which I was able to forcefully work into the mechanism to make them function nicely. Apparently HIATT were not very uniform with the bolt threading, so there were little variances between pairs of handcuffs.

I love these, the shape is really nice. Most Darby handcuffs I see have the slightly more rectangular shape, whereas the bows on these are a nice smoothly curved " c " shape.

Enjoy!

🎖🔗🇬🇧 JG British Military Faux Backstrap Darby Handcuffs from 1952 (Korean War)

These are the JG (J.G) British military Darby handcuffs from 1952 around the time of the Korean War. They are known as a faux or fake backstrap design, due to how the hinge was designed. A backstrap darby handcuff has a flap of the bow pulled back to make a gap for the hinge, whereas a fake backstrap is visually designed similarly, but it's more of a pronounced hole that is made in the chunkier metal of the hinge area.

These are the most heavy darby handcuffs in my collection. Approximately 55% heavier, 25% wider bow and 20% wider lock tube. These are BEEFY handcuffs indeed! 627 grams! This size is a tad on the smaller than regular and are very tight on me. If I flex my fist while wearing the cuffs, they hurt. But at least they fit enough that I could demo them for you.

They are a fixed bow, non-adjustable handcuff.

I won these on eBay and they had no key. Luckily I had won a bid on a key weeks earlier when I first bought a pair of Darby handcuffs. It did not fit any that I had my eye on but I knew it might come in handy since I wanted a pair of these! As luck would have it, these cuffs showed up and I won, so now I have 1 working key for them 😎 The key number is KE 2770.

Enjoy

HIATT 2 M&C (Ministry & Civil) Model 104 Darby Handcuffs Made 1916 (Behind back demo also)

These are a Ministry & Civil (M&C) pair of HIATT Darby handcuffs from 1916 (world war 1). SHINY! They came with no key, but the key from my HIATT BEST pair work fine with these.

These are apparently military, though not used for front-line war purposes. Perhaps they were used by military police or some other domestic purpose. They are not stamped with the crows foot or broad arrow because the M&C was enough to mark them as being Military property at the time.

These are very similar to the previous pair of Police version of these handcuffs, only these are older and still have the chrome plating intact which looks shiny as hell and feel very smooth since waxing them. Truly a nice pair of cuffs.

The seller had listed them with the wrong brand name of "RIATT" but the images clearly showed they were HIATT. So I was the only person who bid on them and I unexpectedly won them for about £25 total which is a total steal at that price!

At the time of writing, these are 105 years old and still work great. I did have to clean a lot of dirt and graphite out of them and then re-lubricate and polish them but once done they are amazing.

Enjoy.

HIATT Best British Police Darby Handcuffs Made approx 1930 Still working great!

These are genuine HIATT BEST British police handcuffs, made somewhere between 1920 and 1938.

These are wrought iron handcuffs, hand-made. They have a very slightly larger wrist capacity size than my R.C.S Military handcuffs.

While these have a little lateral play on the hinge, the snap-close feature is smoother on these than the R.C.S model.

These are a Derby handcuff, meaning the style is very Victorian. This style of handcuff had been used from the mid 1800's till the mid 1900's and is in fact still used in some eastern countries like Pakistan. These are non-adjustable, so it was not the most convenient for police because if someone had giant wrists, they might not fit. If someone's wrists were too small they could slip out of them!

These work smoothly after the work I did on them. I blasted them inside and out with PMA Brake & Clutch cleaner (evaporates and leaves no residue), this removed bits of gunk, old lubricants and got them decently clean. Then I inserted the key and fully unlocked and dowsed the insides with the WD40 Specialist Dry PTFE lubricant I use in all my cuffs and worked the key back and forth to ensure the whole mechanism was lubricated. Then I sprayed some PMA again on the outside to get excess lubricant off (I had to add some more lubricant to the hinge after this video because it washed off and you can hear the squeak!) and then gave these cuffs 3 coats of Renaissance wax to protect the metal and give it a nice sheen.

I show these used behind my back, only because I am confident in accessing the keyholes. I'm a fairly large guy and I do not have the same flexibility to use keys in small keyholes behind my back. But Darby ones are amongst the very view I can let you see how they look from the back.

Enjoy!

Genuine British Army Darby Style Handcuffs from 1956, made by R.C.S Ruben, Craddock & Sons

These are British army / military handcuffs from 1956. They are stamped with the British government or military broad arrow symbol. These are only slightly different than those that were used during WWII World War 2.It is a screw style mechanism and are not adjustable to different wrist sizes.

There were 3 sizes made, though it is unlikely that military or police would carry all 3 sizes in my opinion due to weight, which is why the ratchet handcuff was to be adopted not too long after these R.C.S versions of the Darby style cuffs were used. This style of cuff has been made by various brands, most notably HIATT.

This style is surprisingly comfortable, considering that this design dates to the mid 1800's. As long as your wrist fits in the bracelet, they are relatively comfortable.The screw mechanism is very simple. A STRONG spring keeps the pawl in the closed position and when you screw the key in, it progressively pulls the pawl plunger outwards, enabling you to open the handcuff.These have the Victorian / Sherlock Holmes vibe to them because the basic style is so old. But they are effective and designs like this are still used in some eastern countries like Pakistan.

I also demo these behind my back so you get an additional view of how they look and restrict.

These are not the quickest handcuffs to operate! The springs are extremely strong and often hard to snap shut. You can imagine how inconvenient and possibly pointless and dangerous it would be to have to screw a key so many times to lock handcuffs on someone's wrist if you did not have enough strength in your hands to snap them shut!  The modern swing-through ratchet handcuff was so much of an improvement that it has become the standard world-wide to replace this design.

Enjoy!