This now standard method for linking the key ring to another ring was shown to Dai Vernon by Han Ping Chien; see The Dai Vernon Book of Magic by Lewis Ganson, 1957, p. 83. It is not clear if this link was Han's invention or was a technique used generally in China.

British conjurer, Martin Chapender, was using the Crash Link by 1903; see his routine in Mahatma, Vol. 7 No. 1, July 1903, p. 756. It is unknown whether he learned it from the work of Chinese performers or independently conceived it.

See also: Linking Rings and Linking Rings—The Silent Link.