Name/Title
Sussex Police Hiatt 1960 model handcuffs with leather belt pouch c1970sEntry/Object ID
82Description
Pair of swinging bow style chrome plated steel handcuffs., marked "Hiatts 1960". With key and leather holder for attaching to trouser belt.Use
To restrain prisoners. Of a type used by police in Sussex between the 1960s and the mid 1990s.Context
This 1960 model of handcuffs made by Hiatt was the first widely adopted British designed model of "swinging bow" type handcuffs. The name describes the fact that the moving part of the "cuff" moves 360 degrees making it easier to place the handcuffs on the wrist. Hiatt's previous swinging bow design, "The Reliant" model of 1953, had been a failure. Swinging bow handcuffs had first been patented the US in 1912 and Hiatt had made versions of these from the 1930s under licence from the US company Peerless. Only with the introduction of the 1960 model did swinging bow handcuffs widely replace "Darby" style handcuffs in the UK. This model could be double locked by turning the key clockwise one quarter turn, preventing the cuffs from over tightening.
Hiatt were a Birmingham based company that made restraints from at least 1780, and whilst best known for handcuffs, they manufactured other police equipment throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. The company ceased UK production in 2008 following increased scrutiny over some of its products and their use abroad.
In Sussex, after the 1968 amalgamation, the Hiatt 1960 model were the first type of handcuffs to be personal issue to all officers, from the late 1970s/1980 onwards. Prior to this they were allocated to vehicles. Some examples are stamped with warrant numbers. These handcuffs have a key with a notch in it, which was not compatible with later Hiatt models, which all used the same key. These handcuffs continued to be re-issued to officers in Sussex, along with more modern Hiatt models until the mid 1990s when all handcuffs were recalled and replaced with the Chubb "Detainer" model.
The leather pouch with these handcuffs was designed to be attached to a trouser/skirt belt and was standard issue in Sussex Police until the adoption of the Chubb Detainer handcuffs in the mid 1990s, which required a larger pouch, which was made of synthetic canvass type material.