On this day in 1882 Edward Davis Bean was granted the patent for POLICE HANDCUFF. U.S. Patent No. 268,171.
This invention was created out of necessity. Police officers had difficulties apprehending offenders as the handcuffs would close and lock before the officer could succeed in getting the handcuff around the offender’s wrist. When this occurred it took the officer a substantial amount of time and difficulty to unlock the handcuffs which afforded the offender time to escape the control of the officer.
The object of this invention is to prevent accidental or premature locking of handcuffs by providing them with a lock containing and adjustable stop controlled by a readily-accessible thumb-knob, by which the latch or bolt of the lock is restrained from engaging in the hasp until the officer releases them by pressure of said thumb-piece.
Some of the first handcuffs to be used were a “one size fits all” design and this created problems for police officers and the offenders they apprehended. The cuffs were either too tight, causing pain, or too loose, allowing the offender to slip out of them. In 1862 the first pair of adjustable handcuffs was patented and the improvements have continued from there.
