That is their website. My wife took me up to Appleton as a surprise around a year and a half ago and we visited the Houdini exhibit at the Outgamie Museum. It was before they opened their new "AKA Houdini" exhibit though, so I am not really sure what is on display now.

Agreed. In fact, as Houdini was a showman, the actual escape from the cuffs was the least part -- a few seconds to rap them open. I believe HH had three sets made, and the missing 3rd cuffs (the actual escape cuffs) were destroyed, leaving just two surviving sets -- the inspectable set, and the silver presentation set.

Read the account, especially the bit about the cushion because "Houdini's knee's were sore". If you can't work it out from there, go back to start!!

Riley

Hi Riley, what an interesting theory! It is a shame that those who have examined the real Mirror handcuff weren't thinking of the escape method but the cuff itself. Both Bill Lyles and Patrick Cullington tried to describe the cuff as they saw it but netiher delved deep into describing how it locked, was it latching or even testing out which of the slider in the lock actaully moved or not.

The other theory with the cushion is that it was used to smuggle the key, but if the cuff were made to Houdini order, then a second key wouldn't be required, Houdini would have another method and this is where you idea Riley might be on the right track.

The other theory is that the key was passed to Houdini in a glass of water but the key was 41/2 to 5 inches long. What a lot of people forget is that the working area of the key is all that is required and that the key could have been cut down to a length of about 1 /12 inches. The actaully nested mechanism is only about and inch from the keyhole and not deep insdie the cuff lock tube.


From what I hear of the solid silver set, it was a copy of the shape and the bows didn't even hinge, just a fixed unit for show. Anyone else heard that?

Ian

Oh, I dunno...maybe from the standpoint of "verbal deception" (thank you, Norman Bigelow, for such a fine term) the Mirror cuff lock might have been 'five years in development' before the famous challenge. Perhaps the person who had the idea sat on the notion for five years...and took a month to crank out the cuffs for Houdini.
Maybe the engineer/locksmith took a pattern marketed by Bramah five years earlier, added Houdini's modifications, and...bingo...a lock that took five years to 'complete.'

On that basis, one could claim that a brand new Peerless cuff is one that "took a prominent handcuff manufacturer over 90 years to develop." If you start the Peerless handcuff evolution with the 1912 Carney patent, the claim could be considered 'true.'

Steve

Hi Steve, I agree with you that the idea of saying "took five years to make" sounds like we ate now talking about something complex. That's fine for the punters but it doesn't gell with those who know better.

Ian

You're right, Ian.
What magicians and escape artists bank on, however, is that the public and press are largely populated with 'punters.'

Steve

Can I throw in my two cents worth here. My belief is that the "Solid Silver Presentation Cuffs" were made after the event as a gift to Harry for "succeeding" in the challenge. Not sure if they were an operating model, but I would doubt it.

Also, regarding the mechanism, as mentioned on one of my earlier posts, Bramah have no knowledge about supplying some lock mechanisms, and as Ian pointed out, Bramah didn't make a "nested" key/lock. I have once again spoken to the company, and they do not recall ever seeing such a key in any of their catalogs.

Also, as Ian mentioned, the locking action has never been truly revealed. My suspicion is that as the key needed "six or seven turns", it would have been a screw thread attatched to the back of the lock that simply threaded into the fixed part of the cuff.

Therefore, my thoughts are this;

"If" Nathaniel Hart built the cuffs, the locking mechanism was not an "off the shelf" Bramah mechanism. It may have been based on Bramah, but seems to have been a "one of a kind"

Harry probably had it built for him. Research has not yet found Nathaniel Hart in Birmingam at the time.

Harry, being a "publicity freak" probably mentioned Bramah in his publicity for the challenge, becuase he was aware that Bramah made the best locks that money could buy, therefore when he beat the challenge, his credibility was increased.

Oh for a time machine!!!

Hi Mick,
Your right about the turning several times of the key to lock the cuff. Chris Gower made a screw mechansim in his version (reproduction) of the Miror. The key drove a locking screw towards the bow to lock it. The cuff had to be locked with the key.

In the cuff I made which was as close as I could get to the nested Bramah ( as mentioned above)I made the mechanism just like a Darby, key turned several times to remove the key after it had either been snapped shut or held closed and then key removed which locked it.

Although the spring in my cuff was strong, I could have made it that it could be rapped open, in line with Riley's idea.

Get me a TARDIS!

Ian

Far more interesting is that both the cuffs and silver copy were on display at the Houdini Museum in Nigara Falls, Canada.....

...yet somehow were NOT on display just before the fire broke out....


...things that make you go hmmmmmmm.

Without making any unsubstatiated claims, there have been a few people who have raised an eyebrow at the circumstances surrounding that fire.

Steve

Ian,

Visually, how do the lock and key in your 'standard cylinder' and 'gaffed' versions of the Mirror cuff compare to the appearance of the lock and key in the sliding cylinder Bramah version. Do they look similar or starkly different?

Steve

Hi Steve, the key in the original was about 5 inches long about 3/8 inch dia round shalft with oval key head. The stepped working area of the key ( for the nested mechasim , inner and outer sliders) was about 3/4 long and 1/2 dia set back from the tip of the key by about 1/2inch.

The original Bramah key for my #MCB model is 6 inches long 1/4 dia and has a circular key head. This is one of the longest keys that the bramah factiry still make.

Ian

I claim nothing, I am just saying hmmmmmm.......

Hi Mark, Interesting that you bring this up, I have heard that it strange that just after the Water torture cell had gone off to be restored ( due to water damage from a fish tank put inside for display, the water effect , not fish)
and while the cell was away, a copy was commisioned. and then when the cell was returned and on display again, a FIRE!.

I hear that the fire razed the copy on display and the real cell is still out there. Maybe what Mr Copperfield purchased at the recent auction.

Ian

Well.......

....I'll just say I heard that too. I have spoken to someone who saw the remains as well.....

Hi Mark, I have a photo here somewhere of what remained and it was not a pretty sight. Even long term escape artists and Houdini historians would be perplex when looking at the few pieces left and probably would imagine what it once was.

Ian

The fire at the Niagara muesem has
been exagerated.The worst damage was
to the torture cell. The fire started
in a waste paper basket that was next
to the cell.The contents of the museum
was sold at the Butterfield auction.
Many fine items were sold. No damaged
goods, no chared remains. The story
that I hear is that Copperfield
obtained the Mirror cuffs about the
time of the auction.

Shortly after the fire, did I see an advert or a listing on ebay for charred parts of the Torture cell for sale with a certificate of authenticity. I remember they were silly money. Was I dreaming, or was someone cashing in on it?

Also, regarding the fire, The building was completely gutted as far as I can see from the internal pictures that Sid Radner sent me. The outside looks completely gone too. I have a wonderful photo taken by The Niagara Falls Review at the peak of the fire. Flames all over the place!

I also have an outside shot the day after, so I think it was more than an exaggerated claim.

The wood and glass of the cell were totalled, only the brassware was left for John Gaughan to work with. The spare glass in Sid's garage was apprently used for the rebuild. Not confirmed but a probability. Correct me please if I have this wrong.

How about that. After all this time, it still creates interest (and dare I say suspicion?)

There are a lot of Questions that will go Unanswered.