Guiteau Handcuffs. Philadelphia: The Rankin Co., ca. 1870. One of only four early unpatented American handcuffs. With replacement keys and instructions for their operation. The only example of this handcuff stamped with the manufacturerНs mark, and one of only seven known examples of this restraint. Good working condition. Rare. Nicknamed by Houdini, who first saw the cuff on a visit to the Rankin factory in Philadelphia in 1900, the Guiteau cuff incorporates a unique locking mechanism using a key within a key to operate it. In his book Handcuff Secrets, Houdini wrote about the Guiteau Cuff, сSuch was the style of cuff which I have been informed was used on Guiteau, the murderer of President Garfield, who was aftertwards hanged for this crime. It is a formidable cuff, and very difficult, as it requires a key within a key to open. In the year 1900 I visited the maker of these cuffs, and asked him to open them, but he failed to do so; I however succeeded. ѓThey are very scarce. Although they lock easily, few understood how to open them, and hundreds of them had to be broken off the prisonerНs wrists.о