How handcuffs are made - GIF

[Altair]

How handcuffs are made.




Previously:

Samurai sasumatas stop knife-wielding criminal - video

[tlnixon]

Smith and Wesson cuffs at that. It appears from the logos that they might be made abroad and not in the U.S. Did anyone else get that impression from the logos on the screen? I have a couple pair of them. They were always tight ratcheting through and required much more force that the Peerless brand ones I carried most of the time as a cop. One time several years ago, the local Sheriff's Dept. bought a bunch of Hiatt's handcuffs. Almost every pair of them had to eventually be cut off of inmates' wrists with bolt cutters. They would not unlock. Apparently it was a bad batch.

[Toolmaker51]

They're S&W alright. Unmistakable logo.


Can't (won't) stereotype place of origin, but the tooling appear well made, for a mostly handmade product. Biggest surprise was the gas furnace instead of induction.
Some US companies are careful with who they let out contracts, and monitor product from raw material to packaging 100%.
Seemingly a pattern for outfits still carrying the founders names, no matter changes in ownership.

[Philip Davies]

It isn’t clear to me how the main, curved components are formed. Stamped out? Forged? Did I miss something? I went through it several times.

[Toolmaker51]

It isn’t clear to me how the main, curved components are formed. Stamped out? Forged? Did I miss something? I went through it several times.

Virtually all stampings, including the channel shaped 'housing' formed from flat strip. Teeth are milled into the hook portion, and what I take to be the chain swivel ball is shaped part in 6 spindle lathe with form tools.
The anchor end wasn't visible, I suspect done the same way. but a lathe with integral milling or live tooling perpendicular to the material axis.

[daniel82]

I bought a pair of those when I was 16, for no other reason than I wanted them. Paid $21. Took em to school, dropped the key in the grass somehow, so my classmate Joe locked two of our friends to the fence. What a joker! Managed to pick one side open with a paper clip, but had to call poor Bill's sister to come get us and take us to my house to retrieve my spare key from the super-secret hidey-hole behind my wall calendar. Got scolded by the principal for that foolishness. Kept them for years, finally gave them to my brother the cop. Now I carry a key which I found near a dark stain on the floor of an empty 40' container I was sweeping out. The mind reels...

[Toolmaker51]

I bought a pair of those when I was 16, <<<<<snip>>>>>>> Now I carry a key which I found near a dark stain on the floor of an empty 40' container I was sweeping out. The mind reels...

For reels!
My 20 footer purchase didn't include anything but dust.

But handcuffs were very popular motorcycle locks.