Novelist seeking help

[Steven Galloway]

Hello.
I'm a Canadian novelist working on a book in which Harry Houdini is a character. I've reviewed several books on lock picking, and understand the basic principles, but would like to speak to someone who has a knowledge of what locks (particularly handcuffs) would have been like and how they'd have worked in the 1890-1920 period. If possible I'd like to speak to you on the telephone, but email would be fine as well.
I will of course acknowledge you in the afterword of the book when it's published. Feel free to google me if you're wary.
Steven Galloway
stevengalloway at shaw.ca

[mfitz]

Hi Steven,

While I can't speak with any experience on historical handcuffs, I found a couple promising leads for you:

The Lars Holst Restraint Collection
http://www.holstcollection.com/
This site showcases what appears to be a fantastic collection of antique handcuffs. There's info on how to contact Lars on the site.

Handcuffs.org
http://www.handcuffs.org/
This site bills itself as "A Collector's Guide to Vintage Handcuffs" - Sounds like it might yield some good sources.

Good luck with your book!

Best regards,
Michael

[raimundo]

Houdini was like a magician, he had tricks, and sometimes confederates who helped him. His wife was said to usually be the last person he touched before entering an escape trick, she passed him lockpicks or keys mouth to mouth in a kiss.
He was also known to have bribed some locals who were in a position to gaff the trick for him, such as a guy who worked for someone who made an "escape proof box" out of wood, houdini bribed his assistant to remove and cut short the nails for a panel in the box, so that he only had to push on it to get out.
It wasn't all lockpick skill, it was social engineering and paid helpers too. The escapes were done the same as magic tricks, meaning the level of difficulty was hyped while the escape was rigged with helpers and other things that might be called cheating but it was about escape so cheating is ok.

[Steven Galloway]

@Mfitz - thanks, those were useful links.
@raimundo - I agree that very often Houdini used gaffed cuffs, but he was also a pretty adept lock-picker. It wasn't all a cheat. In particular there is a story of how when he was a boy apprenticed to a locksmith named Hanauer inn Appleton he was able to open a pair of handcuffs where the key had broken off in the lock while on a prisoner. While it may be apocryphal, I think it's at least technically possible to pick these sorts of locks and would like to be able to describe the process he'd have used.

[raimundo]

picks for pin tumblers were probably the half diamond and hook as usual back in the day, however they had a lot of padlocks that used lever tumblers and I have seen a photo of what were said to be houdinis lockpicks or at least some of them, and there are things there that I did not understand, picking was different then.

I recently have been working with tiny bogotas, the pick shaft is five pins long, and the handle and tensor are not longer than the keybow on a schlage, they photograph beside a key and are just the same length.

Someone in another thread was doing a magic trick with picks and I mentioned palming the bogotas under the band of a ring,
this works better than any other method of palming, the picks are very secure, and you can rub your hands on your pants in a natural type of movement for a person seated, with this pair of bogotas securely palmed in the ring band, then you can type on a keyboard, with them still secured under your palm, even pick up a glass and drink without any effort to grip the picks, its the best palming method I know.
palming coins us usually done between the minor fingers while the back of the hand is in view, other objects can also be palmed, the usual methods are pinching it between fingers, or in the fleshy part of the palm, but this requires tensing muscles and you can only approximate natural movement of the hand when muscles are tensed to hold an object,
pine sap resin has been used to create sticky fingers for some tricks of this type,
The idea is to hold and manipulate the object, alternately dissappearing and reappearing it, while showing the backs sides of the hand in a way that looks like a natural movement of an empty hand.
only with the tensor bend tucked under the ring band can you actually move the hand in a natural way while this is hidden in your hand.

Not that it answers your questions but thats what was on my mind. Just sayin'...