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FETTERS AND HANDCUFFS
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FETTERS AND HANDCUFFS , See also:instruments for securing the feet and hands of prisoners under See also:arrest, or as a means of See also:punishment. The old names were manacles, shackbolts or shackles, gyves and swivels. Until within See also:recent times handcuffs were of two kinds, the figure-8 ones which confined the hands See also:close together either in front or behind the prisoner, or the rings from the wrists were connected by a See also:short See also:chain much on the See also:model of the handcuffs in use by the See also:police forces of to-See also:day. Much improvement has been made in handcuffs of See also:late. They are much lighter and they are adjustable, fitting any See also:wrist, and thus the one pair will serve a police officer for any prisoner. For the removal of gangs of convicts an arrangement of handcuffs connected by a See also:light chain is used, the chain See also:running through a See also:ring on each fetter and made fast at both ends by what are known as end-locks. Several recently invented appliances are used as handcuffs, e.g. snaps, nippers, twisters. They differ from handcuffs in being intended for one wrist only, the other portion being held by the captor. In the snap the smaller circlet is snapped to on the prisoner's wrist. The nippers can be instantly fastened on the wrist. The twister, not now used in See also:England as being liable to injure prisoners seriously, is a chain attached to two handles; the chain is put See also:round the wrist and the two handles See also:twisted till the chain is tight enough. See also:Leg-irons are anklets of See also:steel connected by light chains See also:long enough to permit of the wearer walking with short steps. An obsolete See also:form was an anklet and chain to the end of which was attached a heavy See also:weight, usually a round shot. The See also:Spanish used to secure prisoners in bilboes, shackles round the ankles secured by a long See also:bar of See also:iron. This form of leg-iron was adopted in England, and was much employed in the services during the 17th and 18th centuries. An See also:ancient example is preserved in the See also:Tower of See also:London. The See also:French marine still use a See also:kind of leg-iron of the See also:bilbo type. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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