In a nutshell the effect I am trying to do... I want to be tied to a chair at the wrists and ankles, have a curtain cover me for a few seconds and when the curtain drops an assistant is in the chair and tied up. (the routine is a little more complicated than that... but you get the idea here.)

I know how to have my wrists tied as for quick and easy out and in, but do not know what to do for the ankles. Rope would be the ideal way to get tied, but I am certainly open to any possibilities of restraints for the ankles. The chair could be gimmicked, the restraint could be gimmicked, etc... - in a perfect world I would be able to have a spectator examine the restraint and be the one to restrain me.

So, any ideas on how to bind my ankles that I could get into and out of very quickly.

thanks in advance....
scott

Generally, there is a cheat you could do. Tie the ropes at your ankles by tying it below the cross piece of the chair.
Merely lifting the chair a few inches, allows the rope that is tied to the chair to slide off and you actually walk away with the ankle knots still on you. The assistant
would also have ropes on the ankles (easily hidden by pants leg.)
The chair would then be lifted for a second and placed on the waiting loop resting on the floor.
My club did this recently.

My solution:

I hired Mark Cannon of Cannons Great Escapes to build and gimmick some things..

I am anxiously awaiting the final results.

Thank you for the help and for the PM's.

-Scott