comments in-line
I found the patent digging through the source, US Patent Office website and searching on Class numbers. Sometimes Google won't get it...
If you look at the first patent the part you are calling a "handle" was used to hold a strap in place. What Rob took pictures of seems to have been missing a few parts.
One thing I have learned by pawing through old patents is that there were an awful lot of items that were never actually produced. The Patent office doesn't care if something is practical or not, but rather if it is unique or novel in design or function...