Name/Title
Plug Eight handcuffs c1850Entry/Object ID
83Description
A pair of unplated wrought iron "plug eight" style handcuffs with hinge on one side, a screw-in plug lock inside a barrel on the other, together with a specially threaded key. Both the handcuffs and the key are marked "1". No maker's marks.Context
Many early forms of restraint do not have locks and are secured by being screwed together, the screw being undone with a specially shaped key. A variation of this is the so called "plug" lock. To operate this a threaded plug, inside the barrel of one half of the restraint is turned using a special key. The threaded inside of the plug then attaches itself securely on a threaded bolt on the other half of the restraint, securely fastening both halves together. Because the plug is at the bottom of the barrel it can only be reached by the special key. This type of lock is very different to that used on "Darby" handcuffs, that actually use a spring bolt, which is pulled open by a threaded key.
This particular pair of plug locked handcuffs are of a style known as "eights" because they form the shape of a number "8", so that they are called "plug eights".
There are also "Darby" handcuffs in the eight style, and indeed the first handcuffs issued to officers of the Metropolitan Police were "Darby Eights", and for many years they were also standard issue to officers of The Royal Irish Constabulary, such handcuffs being called "Irish Eights".
Plug eight style handcuffs were produced by a number of companies that made restraints and are generally regarded as early in date. This particular pair are not marked with a maker, but very similar handcuffs were made by Hiatt, Frogatt, Wilson, and Griffin and Nichols (Nichols 2002). They probably date from c1850 but could be older.