GB2352770A - Handcuffs - Google Patents

Abstract

A handcuff comprising bracelet members 10,11 each with a pivotal clasp member 20 having ratchet teeth 23 engageable by a ratchet member 25 which has complementary teeth 28 provided along at least a major part and preferably all of the ratchets length. The ratchet member 25 is preferably pivotally mounted with six teeth 28. The teeth 28 may be arranged in different positions along the ratchet 25 and of different height.

Description

2352770 PATENTS ACT 1977 A9846GB-GMD Title: Handcuffs Descfiption of

Invention This invention relates to handcuffs.

A handcuff, as is well known, comprises two bracelet members which are connected (either rigidly or flexibly) to one another and are able to be applied respectively to the wrists of a prisoner and locked thereon in order to restrain him or her. Alternatively one of the bracelet members might be applied to one wrist of a prisoner and the other bracelet member applied to a custodian's wrist or to some relatively immovable item in order to prevent the prisoner from escaping. In any event, police forces or other authorities using handcuffs generally only have a single size of handcuff and the bracelet members must fit a large range of sizes of prisoners' wrists. With current designs of handcuff, difficulties may be encountered if a prisoner has unusually small wrists and hands, in which case escape might be possible.

Characteristically the locking mechanism of known handcuffs has included a ratchet and pawl type mechanism, or some arrangement of complementary interengageable teeth, which are only capable of engagement over a small range of closed positions of the bracelet members. It is broadly the object of the present invention to provide a handcuff wherein this disadvantage is overcome or reduced.

According to the invention, we provide a handcuff comprising two bracelet members each comprising a body, an arcuate limb extending therefrom, and a clasp member pivotally connected at or adjacent the free end of the aricuate limb, the clasp member having a toothed engagement portion movable through a path in a part of the body and co-operable with complementary tooth formations on a ratchet member movably mounted in said 2 part of the body, wherein the ratchet member is of elongate configuration extending generally lengthwise of said path, and said tooth formations are provided along at least a major part of its length.

By virtue of the invention, the range of positions of the clasp member in which the teeth on its engagement portion can co-operate with the complementary tooth formations on the ratchet member is increased. Teeth at the extreme ends of the engagement portion of the clasp member are able to be engaged by the complementary tooth formations at one or other end of the ratchet member, when the handcuff is applied to a large or small w-rist as the case may be. When the handcuff is engaged with wrists of average size, however, all the complementary tooth formations on the ratchet member engage with teeth on the clasp member, thereby increasing security of the handcuff Preferably the ratchet member is pivotally mounted in the body of the handcuff and has a side portion facing said path of movement of the engagement portion, said side portion having a plurality of said complementary tooth formations extending along substantially its entire length. Because the ratchet member is pivotable, such tooth formations at different positions along the ratchet member will, of course, be of different heights from one another so as to be movable into and out of the arcuate path of movement of the engagement portion of the clasp member.

Other operative features in respect of the ratchet member, locking means therefore, and so on, may be provided generally as known in handcuffs, and such features will be referred to in the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings, of which,

Figure I is a perspective view of a handcuff to which the invention may be applied, Figures 2 and 3 are sections through part of the handcuff, in different operative positions, illustrating the invention.

3 Referring firstly to Figure I of the drawings, the handcuff illustrated comprises two bracelet members indicated generally at 10 and 11, movably connected to one another by chain links indicated at 12. The bracelet members are mirror-image identical to one another and the bracelet member 10 comprises a body 14 from which an arcuate limb 15 extends. The limb 15 comprises upper and lower arcuate plates 16, 17 respectively with a space therebetween and the plates 16, 17 continue at 16a, 17a in the body 14 to define an internal cavity containing the locking components to be described hereafter. Also visible in Figure I and protruding from the upper surface of the body portion 14 is a lock housing 18 containing a mechanism which as illustrated is a radial pin tumbler lock operable by a suitable key. It is to be understood, however, that lock mechanisms of other types could be alternatively provided.

Pivotally connected between the plates 16, 17 at the free end of the limb 15 remote from the body portion 14 is a clasp member 20. The pivot thereof is afforded by a rivet 21 which also holds the plates 16, 17 together at their ends. The clasp member 20 has an engagement portion 22 at its end remote from its pivotal mounting, the engagement portion 22 being arcuate in configuration and having an arcuate side surface provided along its length with a plurality of ratchet teeth 23. The clasp member 20 is able to rotate through 360' about its pivotal mounting, and in part of such movement the engagement portion 22 moves in an arcuate path between the parts 16a, 17a of the plates 16, 17 in the body portion 14.

Pivotally mounted within the body portion, about a pin 24 extending between the plate parts 16,a 17a is a ratchet member 25. This is of elongate configuration and at its end remote from its pivotal mounting 24 it has a head with projections 26, 27 for the purpose described hereafter. Spaced along its side facing the teeth 23 on the engagement portion 22, the ratchet member 25 has six complementary teeth 28 and it will be noted that such teeth 28 are 4 provided along substantially the entire length of the ratchet member between its head end having the projections 26, 27 and its end at which it is pivotally mounted at 24.

The ratchet member 25 is spring biased for pivotal movement in the anticlockwise sense with reference to the drawings by a hairpin spring 29. One limb of the hairpin spring lies against the ratchet member while the other limb of the hairpin spring ends in a V-shaped detent part 30 engageable in one of two adjacent notches 31, 32 in a lock bolt 33. The lock bolt 33 is slidable lengthwise in the body 14 and at one end has a nose 34 extending into an aperture 35 at the side of the body 14. Alongside the lock bolt 33 is a slidable operating member 36, with an end face 37 engageable by a cam 38 which is movable angularly by a key engaged with the lock mechanism within the lock body 18. The opposite end, 39, of the member 36 is engageable with an angularly movable member 40 which has a nose portion 41 engageable with projection 27 on the ratchet member 25.

The lock bolt 33 further comprises a portion 42 in line with the member 36, and having an end surface 43 opposite the face 37 and with which the cam 38 is engageable.

In use of the handcuff, Figure 2 represents a starting position wherein the ratchet member 25 is biased by the spring 29 into engagement with the teeth 23 on the engagement portion 22, when the clasp member is in a position such that any of the teeth 23 face the teeth 28 on the ratchet member. The configuration of the complementary teeth on the engagement portion and ratchet member is such that the clasp member can be freely moved clockwise, with reference to the drawings, about its pivotal mounting rivet 21 but, when the teeth are engaged, not in the opposite direction. This enables the handcuff to be applied to the wrist of a prisoner or to anything else to which it is required to be applied. Because the teeth 28 are provided along substantially the whole length of the ratchet member 25 between the pivotal mounting thereof and the head, the teeth are able to be engaged when the clasp member is in, for example, the position shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, which may represent engagement with a very small wrist of a prisoner. When the wTist of the prisoner has been thus engaged, a pin (which will usually be provided on the key for operating the handcufo can be inserted through the aperture 35 and used to move the lock bolt 33 to the left with reference to Figure 2, so that the end of the lock bolt overlies the projection 26 on the ratchet member and thus positively prevents the ratchet member from pivotally moving in the clockwise sense about its pivot 24. The teeth of the ratchet member are then held in engagement with the teeth 23 of the engagement portion, preventing the clasp member from being pivotally moved in either direction.

When the prisoner is to be released, the appropriate key is inserted into the lock body 18 and operated to move the cam 38 in a clockwise sense with reference to the drawings. Firstly the cam engages the face 4') of the part 42 of the lock bolt 33, pushing the lock bolt to the right so that the projection 26 on the head of the ratchet member is no longer engaged by the lock bolt and the lock bolt is free to pivot in a clockwise direction and be disengaged from the teeth 23 on the engagement portion 22 of the clasp member. Such movement of the ratchet member is subsequently caused to take place by further rotational movement of the cam 38 which engages end face 37 of member 36 moving it to the left to cause anti-clockwise pivotal movement of the member 40 until its portion 41 engages projection 27 on the ratchet member. The ratchet member is thus moved against the biasing of the spring 29, disengaging its teeth 28 from the teeth 23 freeing the clasp member 20.

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any

6 combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof

Claims (6)

7 CLAIMS

1. A handcuff comprising two bracelet members each comprising a body, an arcuate limb extending therefrom, and a clasp member pivotally connected at or adjacent the free end of the arcuate limb, the clasp member having a toothed engagement portion movable th.rough a path in a part of the body and cooperable with complementai-y tooth foi-niations on a ratchet member movably mounted in said part of the body; wherein the ratchet inember is of elongate configuration extending generally lengthwise of said path, and said tooth formations are provided along at least a inejor part of its length.

2. A handcuff according to Claini 1, wherein the ratchet member is pivotally mounted in the body of the bracelet member and has a side portion facing said path of movement of the engagement portion, said side portion having a plurality of said complementary tooth formations extending along substantially its entire length.

-ding to Claini 2, wlierein said tooth formations at A handcuff accoi I different positions along the ratchet member are of different heights fi-om one another.

4. A handcuff accordinc, to any one of the preceding claims comprising six 1-71 1 tooth formations, on said ratchet member.

5. A handcuff substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

6. Any novel featUre or novel combination of feawres described herein mid/or in the accompanying drawings.