handcuffs - removing them with out keys unlocking hand cuffs by shimming them
in the picture in figure 1 the hand cuff has two important parts the ratchet and a spring loaded pawl.
the ratchet and the spring loaded pawl both have teeth which allow the ratchet to move only in one direction which is towards the persons arm who is hand cuffed.
the handcuff can be unlocked with the key which will push the spring loaded pawl away from the ratchet arm allowing the ratchet arm to move away from the handcuffed person arm.
shimming the handcuff open with out a key is very easy!
a bobby pin, saftey pin, piano wire, hat pin, or some other hard fine wire is jammed between the ratchet and the spring loaded pawl.
once the spring loaded pawl is pushed away from the ratchet the ratchet can be pulled away from the person arm and the person can be freed.
several methods can be used.
the wire can be forced into the spring loaded pawl to hold it open while the ratchet is removed. you have to use a little force to keep the pawl pressed back. (figuree 2)
or you can slide the wire past the farthest tooth on the ratchet and then pull both the ratchet and wire back to open the handcuff. (figure 3).
unlocking hand cuffs by springing or slamming them open
in most handcuffs a properly directed sharp impact of the handcuffs against a hard object can cause the handcuff to be opened.
the handcuff is banged agains the hard object in figure 4 moving the cuff in the direction of the arrow. while your banging the handcuff you also apply force with your arm to the ratchet and the cuff will pop open.
the physics behind this neet trick works like this: think of what happens when a car is moving at 60mph (100 kph) and you slam on the breaks to avoid hitting a dog in the road.
all the people in the car fly forward.
thats what happens to the spring loaded pawl when the cuffs hit the hard object. the pawl flys away from the ratchet. and if you apply a little force to the ratchet it will pop open releasing the person from the cuffs.
what can the police do to keep you from escaping from the cuffs? a lot! but they usually dont.
most cops are sadistic and enjoy punishing people they arrest. after arresting a person they warn them "dont sit on the cuffs or they will click down on your arm and cause you a lot of pain. maybe even cut into your arm!".
these sadistic cops are also stupid cops because this makes it very easy for the person to remove the cuffs via either shimming or slamming the cuffs.
opening handcuffs by picking them.
two new parts come into play on the handcuffs which are the the pusher and the bolt in figure 5.
after arresting the person and placing the handcuffs on them the rare honest cop uses the pin on the handcuff key in figure 6 to shove in the pusher about a 1/4 inch. this moves the bolt up against the pawl so the spring loaded pawl cant move.
this means that the handcuff cant be shimmed, nor can it be slammed or sprung open, well lets qualify that and say in high quality handcuffs the handcuff cant be shimmed or slammed.
now the cuff must be opened with either a key or picked.
please note this important point! to unlock the handcuff the key must be turned in two directions.
in some models of handcuffs the key is turned clockwize first to move the bolt back to its orginal position which allows the spring loaded pawl to move. next the key is turned counter clockwize to force the pawl away from the ratchet so the cuff can be removed.
in other models the direction is reversed.
now that the honest un-sadistic cop has done his job correctly does this make it harder for the handcuffs to be removed.
damn right it makes it more difficult! now the cuffs have to be picked! picking the cuff takes maybe 5 to 10 seconds longer then shimming or slamming the cuffs open!
(now continue with the orginal shit in my lock.html that showed how to remove hand cuffs)