Chubb Escort Handcuffs

These are high security handcuffs more suited to escape-artist shows than to modern police use. Their main features are:

1. A lock so complicated it is unlikely anyone could pick it (the cylinder has at least 12 pins, in two sets that are NOT at 180 degrees to each other).

2. They cannot be locked without the key being inserted first.

3. The bow (which has only two locking positions) is latched on both sides of the lockcase.

4. There is an insert which makes the internal size smaller for smaller wrists.

5. They are made from a hardened metal, with a swivel between the two cuffs.

Information below supplied by "The Great Santini"

The lock system in the Chubb cuff is called the "Ava" cylinder system and it was brought out by Chubb in the late 1960's. The cylinder contains a number of brass waffers that move from side to side rather than rotate. There are no springs on these waffers and this is one of the security features which makes the cuff near impossible to pick. If a key with incorrect cuts is put into the lock, the waffers act as wards or blockers that actually prevent a wrong key from turning far enough to move the cam that retracts the ball bearings. Chubb also used this system in padlocks, and even residental deadbolt door locks.

Many escapists have claimed to have picked this cuff but this is highly unlikley. The best way out of this cuff for an escapist is to perform a key switch and substitute the real key with a different ava key after the cuffs are locked on the wrists.