US1885362A

US1885362A - Chain-link wire fabric

Info

Publication number: US1885362A
Application number: US433386A
Authority: US
Inventors: Arthur A G Land
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1930-03-05
Filing date: 1930-03-05
Publication date: 1932-11-01
Anticipated expiration: 1949-11-01

Description

Nov. 1, 1932. A. A. G. LAND CHAIN LINK WIRE FABRIC Filed March 5. 1930 Shets-Sheet 1 fnvenlf'orf CHAIN LINK RRRRRRRR IC 1932- A. A. G. LAND CHAIN LINK WIRE FABRIC Filed March 5. 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented Nov. 1, 1932 STAT ARTHUR A. G. LAN-1), or (inroneo, ILLINOIS cnAIn-Lrnx wmn FABRIC My invention relates to chain link wire fabrics, namely fabrics composed of zigzag strands extending transversely of the fabric, with each strand presenting bights at each 5? edge of the zigzag strand and with each two consecutive strands intertwined (or spirally twisted through each other). to interlock,

bights of these strands. Each constituent strand for such a'fabric is usually hasall legs of its zigzag formation disposed at, the same angle of obliquity to the longitudinal axis of the strand, and the fabric when upright (as for example when, 1 used as a fence fabric) presents so called dia-' 15 mond meshes, each of which mesheswhas two horizontally opposite and two'vertically opposite corners. This term diamond mesh is usedfin the wire trade as including thus disposed equal-sided quadrilateral meshes, re- "gardless of the size of angle between any two consecutive mesh sides, and hence is here used inthe same sense. 5 1

When such a diamond type ofchain link wire fabric is tensioned longitudinallyas w for example, when stretching it taut between two widely spaced fence poststhe strain tends to widen the mesh horizontally or lon-jgitudinally of the fabric and'to contract" the mesh transversely of the fabric, as for example by changing the meshof Fig. 6 from dicated in dotted lines.

In a small sized fabric,,such as a" grille on a' window, such a "distortion of the mesh shapecan be prevented bylfasteningthe longltudinal edges of the'fabnc to spaced and 1 wide range.. 1

V rigid top and bottom bars; But such a complete framing of the fabric is usuallyprohib itive in cost with large fabrics, such as the 5 long stretches of wire fabric between widely spaced fence posts.

Consequently, it

' against-undue elongation by making them of i as mUCll heavier wire than would otherwise be needed to resist the strains for which the fab ric is designed, thereby V undesirably increas-' do'the fabric. H r

Application filed March 5,

the form shown in full lines to the. shape inthese objects with the us'e of easily interwoven constituent strands forchain link wire has heretofore been customary to stiffen chain link WlIG fabrics 1930; Serial No. 4331386. i

: Furthermore, it also has been generally customary to construct'such chain link wire fabribs with meshes having their heights equal a to their widths,-thereby requiring a consid-" erably greater amount of wire (per given area of the fabric) than would be required with taller meshes for excluding objects of a given diameter, thereby stillfurther increasing both the factory cost and theshipping' expense. v p i V My present invention'a'ims to reducethe cost of chain link Wire fabrics by providing mesh shapes which will more strongly resist distention longitudinally of the fabric than meshesof the usual diamond shape, and by disposing certain mesh sides so that a larger proportion. of the fabric tensioning strain" will tend to elongatethe wire (rather than to changethe anglesof thebends inthezig zag strand formations). i

Furthermore, invention aims I to provide chain link wire'fabrics in. which novel" mesh arrangements and mesh-side disposition will" greatly enhance the longitudinal tensile strength of'thefa-bric even whenthe greater portion'of thefabric presents meshes of diamond or other shapes, or when most of the meshes are of shapes affording an increased object-excluding efiect or are of decidedly ornamental appearance. 5h

Soalso', myinvention a ms to accomplish and cheaply manufactured strands, which strands can readlly be varled 1n the shape of I thelr z1gzag3for'mat1ons to increase or decrease the res hency of theffLbIlC"W1th1n'aL Furthermore, my invention aims to provide easily manufactured and readily ntertwined fabrics in which novel but simple strand formations enhance the long tudinal reslstance to ,tensiomng' stralns; and aims toprovide strand. constructions which will readily pe'r- 7 mit thenumber and locations ofthese tensionenhancing strandformations to vary within a wide range and according to the t'ensioning' strength and resiliency required in the fabric; and according to the size and shape of meshes employ these general principles pertaining Still further and also more detailed objects of my invention will appear from the follow ing specification and from the accompanying drawings, in which drawings Fig. 1 is an elevation of an end portion of a deltoid mesh wire fabric and of one of bars used for longitudinally tensioning the fabric.

Fig. 2 is an elevation of one of the counterpart strands of which the fabric portion of Fig. 1 is composed.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the strand of Fig; '2.

Fig. i is an enlarged horizontal section taken along the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a section similar to Fig. 4, showing the use of strand bights extending through longer arcs so as to dispose the legs of the strand all in a common plane.

Fig. 6 is an elevation of a right-angled diamond mesh of a chain link wire fabric having the same ball-excluding effect and the same spread as the deltoid meshes in Fig. 1, with dotted lines showing the distortion of the diamond mesh by a longitudinal tensioning of the fabric. I 7

Figs. 7, 8 and 9 are diagrammatic elevations of three shapes of diamond meshes, and Fig. 10 of a deltoid mesh, all having equal ballexcluding effects. 7

Figs. 11 and 12 are diagrammatic elevations of portions of my fabric including diamond shaped and deltoid meshes, the deltoid meshes presenting longitudinal rows of consecutively oblique tensioning legs.

Figs. 13 and 14 are diagrammatic elevations of portions of my fabrics composed partly of deltoid meshes and partly of diamond meshes formed for enhancing the longitudinal strength of the fabrics.

Fig. 15 is a diagrammatic elevation of a fabric including bothdiamond shaped and deltoid meshes, with part of the deltoid meshes formed to reduce the effective mesh openings.

Fig. 16 is an enlarged elevation of two of the deformed deltoid meshes of Fig. 15.

Figs. 17 to 19 are diagrammatic elevations of portions of my fabrics in which the main meshes include both deltoid and diamond shapes.

Fig. 20 is a diagram illustrating the tensioning effect of the less tall meshes in the fabric of Fig. 19. I

Fig. 21 is a diagrammatic elevation of a portion of a fabric embodying my invention, showing a variety of mesh forms.

In accomplishing the purposes of my invention after the here presented manner, I

to chain link wire fabrics:

lVith diamond shaped meshes formed by a wire-of given character and size, the power required for increasing the spread of the mesh to a given degree varies with the size of the anglesbetween the mesh sides and the di rection of the spreading effort, and this power decreases as the obliquity of the said angle decreases. F or example, with diamond meshes formed for excluding all balls greater than the ball B shown in dotted lines in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the power required (in the direction P) for laterally increasing the horizontal spread of each such mesh to the same linear extent will be greater for the square diamondmeshof Fig. 8 than for the vertically elongated mesh of Fig. 7 and will be still greater for the horizontally elongated mesh of Fig. 9.

In other words, the resistance of such meshes to a horizontal spreading efiort (as -when longitudinally tensioning a fence formed with such meshes) will be greatest when the height of the mesh is smallest in proportion to the lateral spread in the mesh. In practice, this resistance to horizontal tensioning could be increased by a corresponding change in the shape of the mesh up tothe point where the oblique angle 0 in Fig. 9 is about 17 0 degrees, at-which approximate angle the mesh sides would stretch in length before permitting a further increase in the size of this oblique angle. As an example of thisdifference in the resistance to a spreading of such meshes, I have found by experi ment that with the same grade and size of wire, and the same length of sides in a mesh of the form of Fig. 9 (in which the oblique angle 0 is 150 degrees), it requires about twice as much power to increase the lateral spread of this mesh by a given length than with the mesh of Fig. 8 in which the oblique angle is 135 degrees.

In view of these considerations, it would theoretically be desirable to employ such diamond shaped meshes for fences and the like) in shapes in which the horizontal spread of the mesh is far greater than the height of the mesh. However, such a shape is commercially objectionable because any considerable widening of the meshes iii-- creases the inside diameter of the roll intowhich the fabric can be rolled up for shipment; because wide meshes with sides at high obliquity to the horizontal afford too.

ready a-foothold for any one wanting to climbthe fence; and because the diminished height of the meshes means a proportional increase in the number of zigzag formations in each strand for a given height of the fab. ric, thereby increasing the cost of mterweav ing the strands. For these reasons, it is commercially undesirable to increase the longitudinal strength of such a fabric by forming the fabric entirely with meshes of greater width than their height.

However, my experiments in constructing chain link wire fabrics and testing their rigidity have also shown (1) That such fabrics can readily be formed by interweaving counterpart strands in which each two consecutive strand legs are at different angles to the axis of the two co'nsecutive strand legs (6) can" readily stra'nd, thereby increasing the resistance of the fabric to longitudinal tensioning; and,

, (2) That such fabrics can likewise be 4; formed with vertical rows of meshes 'of equal l spread, in each of which rows one or more d '6) "is disposed than-the component-1O of the equal pullP,

meshes are of less height than the remaining.

meshes, and 1 (3) That such a shortening of one or more meshes in each vertical row (or row of meshes transverse of thefabric) effectively increases the longitudinal strength of the entire fabric.

Illustrative of the first of the two' new types "of fabrics prompted by my experiments,Fi-g. 1 shows a fragment of a chain link wire fabric formed by intertwining zigz'ag'g'ed flattened spiral strands (all formed as shown in Fig. 2), each of which strands presents alinedbights 15 at one lateral edge 'alined bights 15 A at its other lateral edge, the alinementof each set of bights being on a line parallel to the axis A of the strand. Each such strand (as shown in Fig. 52) differs from the ordinary strand heretofore employed for this class of fabrics in that the two'legs 6 and 7 of each of zigzag formations are of unequal lengths, and are disposed at different angles of obliquity (18, 19) to the horizontal.

Owing to these differences, one of each be disposedat the increased-angle of obliquity 18 to the'horizontal, which affords a decided increase inthe resistance of the re suiting meshes to ahorizontal tensioning strain (or-strain longitudinal of the fabric) while'the other stand leg 7 (which forms a side of the same mesh with the adjacent leg at the decreased angle of obliquity 19 to the horizontal which affords a greater height of mesh and reduces thecost of intertwining the strands.

' When such a fabric "is tensioned longitudinally, as in stretching a fence fabric secured at one end to a tensioning bar 11 which extends through the bights at that end of the fabric (Fig. 1), each of the end bights 15 A- forms a fulcrum about which the horizontal 'pull along the lines P andP tends to rock the legs 6 and 7'respectively. However, the component 9 ofjthe pull P is much shorter so that a-much larger-proportion of the pull i? tends to elongate the leg 6 on which it is 'exert'edthan of the pull P on the leg 7 The shorter the mesh legs 6, or the shorter the distance 9, the greater will be the resistance of the shorter mesh sides6 to a longitudinal tensioning.

Consequently,-t'he same efior't which will bend the leg 7 to move its free (lower) end a given distance horizontally will not suffice for asimilar-horizontal movement of the 'free (upper) end of the leg 6'. The same holds true in 'the-othermeshes ef-the fabric, par-V the repeated ti'cula'rly since the rows of consecutive legs 6 A diverge byv much greater angles than the companion legs 7 A. Moreover, this in? creased tensioning effect of the shorter. mesh legs is also transmitted obliquely of thefabric as for example along themesh sides marked 16) to other short legs, so that the entire fabric is strengthened in this manner.

This result has also been confirmed by ex perimental testson chain link fabrics made in a fabric with the same ball-excluding efiectiveness permits the securing of the same longitudinal tensile strength with the use of a'much smaller size of wire, which. means a decided saving in thecost of the fabric.

These tests have also shown that with the deltoid mesh of the shape of Fig. 10 and of a size excluding the same size of balls as the meshes of Figs, 7 to 9 inclusive,fthe deltoid mesh of Fig. 10 is-approxi'ma-tely equal in longitudinal resistance to tension to-the mesh OfF1'g."9-,.'SO that by the use of such deltoid meshes (with their axes of symmetry .20 transverse of the fabric) 1 can secure alli'the advantages of the mesh of Fig. -9 without the disadvantage of the latter in providing widened footholds when the fabric is used as a fence.

. 1 However, such tension-enhancing forms of meshes need not be employed for the entire area of fabric, as they can readily be com- *bined both with meshesshaped for a further increase of the longitudinal strength of the fabric, or with meshes of less resistance to tensioning' (longitudinally of the fabric) than the deltoid meshes. For example,-;a deltoid fabric can be strengthened still further by adding a longitudinal edge row of diamond meshes S of the same spread, but of less height, than the deltoid meshes D as 7 shown in Fig. 18. Or, such longitudinal rows of diamond meshes S can be included both at the longitudinal edges and'in transversely spaced rows extending lengthwise of the fabric, as shown-in Fig-'14:, to obtain a greater longitudinal strengthening of the fabric than that obtainedin the fabric of Fig. '13. y V

:By varying the number of rows of deltoid meshes thus interposed between eachr'o'w of the diamond meshes S Ican'correspondingly vary' the degree to which thefa'briccanbe tensioned longitudinally when 'madeflof' a 130 i the distances H.

size of each type of the meshes. This enhanced tensioning effect will obviously be greatest when the longitudinal rows of deltoid meshes alternate with the rows of diamond meshes, when the diamond meshes are of less spread transversely of the fabric (or vertically in an upright fabric) than longitudinally of the fabric. Consequently, I can secure an enhanced longitudinal ri idity even with deltoid fence meshes of great height in proportion to their width by interposingsuch a longitudinal row of diamond meshes between every two longitudinal rows of the deltoid meshes, as in Fig. 17.

The underlying principle of my inventionnamely that of uroviding longitudinally extending zigzag rows of mesh si les in which the successive mesh sides of each zigzag row diverge at greater angles than the mesh sides in other rows longitudinal of the fabricmay also be employed in fabrics in which widely varying proportions. of the meshes are of other than deltoid forms. F or example, Figs. 11 and 12 diagrammatically show portions of fabrics, in which most of the meshes 13 are of a vertically elongated diamond shape, while other meshes D are of deltoid shape and afford the highly obtuse angled and longitudinally extending rows of mesh sides T for increasing the longitudinal strength of the fabric.

All heretofore proposed chain link wire fabrics have been formed of strands in which the distances between consecutive bights at each edge of the strand are equal, so that the meshes formed by each two consecutive strands are all of the same height and shape. However, I have disovered that Zigzag strands can also be consecutively intertwined into a fabric when the Zigzag formations in each strand are not all counterparts of one another and when the consecutive spacings of the bights at one or both edges of the single strand are not all equal. l Vhen such strands are assembled in a fabric, consecutive strands form meshes of different heights transversely of the fabric or longitudinally of the strands.

For example, in the strands of the fabric as shown in Fig. 11, which are so formed that the bights alternate at opposite edges of the strands, the left-hand strand is so formed that the distances between the consecutive bights at the left-hand edge of the strand are equal in a portion of the strand as shown by the bights spacings fl, and the distance J be tween the bights 2a and is much less than The spacings between consecutive bights on the right-hand edge of this strand also are respectively equal and unequal in different portions of the strand.

Also, all of the legs (or mesh sides) of each strand of Fig. 11 extend oblique to the axis A 'of'the strand. These legs are of different lengths, portions of each strand including consecutive legs of equal length and other portions including consecutive legs of dilferent lengths.

F or example,in the right-hand strand of the fabric of Fig. 11 the consecutive legs T. and 21 are of different lengths and cross the axis A of the strand at different angles of obliquity and form two consecutive sides of the deltoid mesh D; the consecutive legs 22 are of equal length and are longer than the short legs T and also cross the axis A of the meshes D so that the meshes are of different I spreads transversely of the fabric.

However, in the completed fabric the meshes of each longitudinal row are all of the same shape, either all deltoid shaped meshes D or are all four-sided or parallelogram shape meshes 13. The top mesh section of the fabric of Fig. 11 shows two longitudinal rows of deltoid shaped meshes D be tween which are three longitudinal rows of parallelogram shaped meshes 13, and the two longitudinal rows of deltoid shaped meshes D in the center are interposed between longitudinal rows of parallelogram shaped meshes 13.

Also the mesh sidesT form contiguous zig zag lines extending longitudinally of the fabric and are of different angularity than the contiguous Zigzag lines formed by the mesh sides 21. These two contiguous zigzag lines border meshes D which are all of deltoid shape.

However, wherever two contiguous longitudinal Zigzag lines are both constituted by mesh sides 22, as in the major portion of Fig. 11, the uniform angularity atwhich the mesh sides consecutively diver 'e from each other causes these contiguous zigzag lines to border meshes 13 of parallelogram shape.

The fabric of Fig. 12 also has the strands so formed that the spacings between consecutive bights at one, edge of the strand are unequal, so that the distance J between the bights 26 and 27 is less than the distance H between the bights 27 and 28.

In Fig. 15 the left-hand strand has the distances between consecutive bights H and J at theleft-hand edge of this strand .unequal, while the distances K between consecutive bights on the right-hand edge of the strand are all equal. 7

When such counterpart strands are assemlongitudinally of the fabric,

bled to form afabr'ic, the bight-s a each' edge of astrand are interlocked with the similarly spaced bights in one edge. of the next strand, so that each two strands form a .rowofmeshes extending transversely of thefabriqbuteach two such consecutive rows presents different mesh formations. Thus, the left-hand trans- Verse row of meshes" (shown vertically in Fig. is formed-by strands in whichthe intertwined bight are equally-spaced,*s0-th ,t

the meshes of thatrow are all of deltoid'sha-pe and of equal height, although some meshes It may be deformed from .their fundamental deltoid shape (which .fundamental shape is shown in dottedlines) so asto differ inappearance; from the true :deltoid shaped meshes'D. i

In the nextsuch row, the heretofore recited departure from-a uniform consecutive spacing of the bightsfatthe strand edges which have *their-bights intertwined'to form the meshes of that row causes these two strandsto form the'sides of meshes which are all of parallelogram shape, "but of two i alternately difierent heights, such-as the tall meshes S. I

Moreover, by varying the spacings of the bights at either one or "both edges of counterpart zigzag strands, I can correspondingly vary both the appearance of there'sulting fabric and theextent to which the resistance ofithe fabric to longitudinal tensioning'is enhanced-by thepresentation of the more oblique angled longitudinal zigzag lines T formed by the strand legs which border the shorter parallelogram-shaped meshes. 1

For example, by arranging the'strandedge bight spacings as in Fig. 17, I can produce a fabric presenting spaced longitudinal rows of parallelogram-shaped meshes (of less height than width) and interposed single rows of relatively taller deltoid meshes, in each of which interposed rows the deltoids are alternately upright and inverted.

So also, by other variations of the said bight spacings, I can produce fabrics in which most of the taller meshes are of a parallelogram shape and with varying numbers of rows of the taller meshes between consecutive rows of the relatively short tensionresistance-enhancingmeshes of parallelomeshes adjacent to the saidshorter meshes Smay be partlyof deltoid shape, as in Figs. 18'andf19.

To enhance-this tensioningefliechl may include ver ically elongated diamond-shaped meshesS in a fabric having the major portionof-its area formed of deltoid meshes-D.

1 his can be done with a singlelongitudinal row of such diamond shaped tensioning meshes, as inFlg. 13, or wlth more numerous rows as in Fig. 14, 1n eithergof which fabrics gram shape S. With such variations, the

each such row of diamondshaped meshes presents two rows of obtuse angled tensioning legs.

ment of a fabric including relatively tall-diamend meshes M, deltoid meshes D, and yer.- tically contracted diamond meshes Q. With such combinations of deltoid meshes and; diamond meshes, the longitudinal rigidity of the fabric can be further enhanced by increasing the number of deltoid meshes (and henceof the rows of tensioning leg-s T) in proportion to the numberof diamond meshes which are *Fig. 15 diagrammatically shows a frag"- elongated transversely of the fabric. ;This

can be done after single rows oftensiomng legs T; or as n Fig. 17 with interposed diamondmeshes affording double rows of such'tensioning legs, thereby doubling-the resistance to tensioning inthis fabric and thereby permitting lighter wire to be used for the fabrics than would be permissible'if all of the meshes of the fabric corresponded in shape to the diamond form of meshes 13 shown in Fig. 11.

the manner of Fig. 11 with The reasonfor this increase in longitudinal strength by the inclusion of diamond meshes which are less tall (transversely of the fabric) than other meshes will be obvious from Fig. 20, which has dotted lines showing both a square diamond mesh and'a vertically contracted diamond mesh as distended longitudinally of the fabric to the same extent. To do this, the angle W would have to bedecreased to a much greater degree than the anglev Y, which would require much greater power.

, Fig. 15 also includes meshes R which are fundamentally of'adeltoid form (as shown.

in dotted lines) but which have their longer legs bowed out of the general direction in which theselegs extend and. in the general plane ofthe fabric. This deforming of the deltoid meshes greatly reduces the maximum size of ball which will pass through'each mesh, as shown inFig. 16, in comparison with the pure deltoidshape, as shownby comparing the ballB with the ball B, but by leaving the shorter'legs straight I will secure the tension-increasing effect,

' Owing to the high effectiveness ofsuch highly obtusely zigzaggedrows ofmesh sides, my invention also "makes it feasible to use light wires for chain link wire fabrics having meshes of great height in proportion to their Widths, and likewise permits such meshes to have some of their sides deformed (out of the general direction in which those sides extend, but approximately in the general plane of the fabric), toprovide an endless variety of ornamental-fabrics, as shown for example by the varied forms of meshes in Fig. 21. In this figure, .each mesh is fundamentally of a deltoid shape, as shown by the dotted lines for meshes at the upper left hand corner of the figure, but the deforming of two mesh sides out of the shape shown in dotted lines reduces the effective mesh opening, after the manner more fully disclosed in, my Patent #1,81 6,361, issued July 28, 1931 on a wire fence or grille. Hence my invention also provides effective means for increasing the strength of the mesh-openingreducing fabrics disclosed in my said copending application.

As the result of the heretofore recited dif ferences in the lengths of some of the consecutive legs of each strand, the spacing of at least one bight in the strand from the two adjacent bights at the same edge of the strand is unequal. For example, in the zigzag strand at the right-hand edge of Fig. 12, the bight at the right-hand end of each leg '1 is unequally spaced from the next higher and the next lower bight at the same edge of the strand, Consequently, each bight which is thus spaced unequally from the two bights between which it is interposed at the same edge of the strand is at the common corner of two meshes of a mesh row transversely the fabric (or upright in Fig. 12), which two meshes D and 13 are both diflerent appearance and of unequal spread longitudinally of the said r0w-as for example, the two meshes respectively above and below the juncture of one of the pairs of legs conjointly designated as T in that figure.

Moreover, it will be noted that in the lon gitudinal rows of mesh legs which afford the increased tensioning resistance in my fabric, the consecutive mesh legs in each such row extend at obtuse angles to each other. Consequently, each two consecutive legs can still change their relative direction momentarily under severe strain, such as the resiliency of the wire will withstand; and not a single row of mesh legs has'the mesh legs of that row extending at right angles to the parallel axes of the strands. When mesh sides do extend at right angles to the axes of the intertwined zigzag strandsas has heretofore been proposed such mesh sides portions aline longitudinally of the fabric to form rigid chains, thereby preventing a changein the shape of the meshes either by'a longitudinal tensioning of the fabric or by the impact of objects against the fabric transversely of its general plane.

meme

By disposingall strand legs or mesh sides of the fabric (including those at the edges of the fabric) oblique to the longitudinal edge lines of the fabric I overcome the rigidity which the fabric would have if part of these strand legs or mesh sides extended par allel to the said longitudinal edge line. As the result, my fabric still has the resiliency and extensibility which is needed in practice to avoid the crystallizing'and weakening which impacts will effect on longitudinally alined and rigidly tensioned strand legs; while still disposing a portion of these strand legs so that they will offer a greater resistance to a longitudinal tensioning ofthe fabric than other strand legs; this increased resistance to longitudinal tensioning being desirably along at least one longitudinal edge of the fabric and in as many other parts of the fabric (spaced transversely of the fabric from one another), as may be required according to the directions of the strand legs interposed between the fabric portions affording thisincreased resistance to longitudinal tension and according. to the degree of resiliency desired in the fabric for its intended use. For this reason, my here pre sented fabricis more desirable than fabrics in which the tension-enhancing legs are in substantially straight rows (as disclosed in my copending application No. 128,889) for purposes where considerable resiliency is desiredas for example, for use in guard fences along automobile highways.

However, while I have described my invention in connection with its use as a fabric for fences, I do not wish to be limited in this respect. Nor do I wish to be limited to the details of the construction and arrangement here disclosed, since many changes might be made without departing either from the spirit of my invention or from the appended claims. In this connection, it is to be understood that I am using the terms strand legs and mesh sides in the appended claims in the broad meanings in which these legs or sides may be either straight or provided with deformations; that I am likewise using the terms paralleh ogram and deltoid in the broad sense in which these terms indicate figures in which the general direction of the sides extends correspondingly; and that the term diamond in the claims broadly includes equalsided parallelograms regardless of the rela- 0 tive angular disposition of the sides thereof.

1 claim as my invention:

1. A constituent strand for a chain link type of wire fabric comprising a Wire bent to a flattened spiral zigzag formation of uni form width and presenting legs of twodifferent lengths all disposed oblique to the general axis of the strand, the strand including a portion in which consecutive legs are of the same length and a portion in which consecutive legs are of different lengths;

2. A constituent strand for achain link wire fabric, as per claim 1, in which legs of the longer length are provided intermediate of their ends with bends lying in planes parallel to the general plane of the strand, the shorter legs all being substantially straight.

3.. A chain link wire fabric. comprising consecutively intertwined strands extending transversely of the fabric, each strand being of zigzag formation and presenting bights at each edge of the strand, each two consecutive bights being connected by a strand leg forming a mesh side in the assembled fabric; each strand including consecutive legs disposed at oblique angles of different angularity to the axis of the strand, whereby the meshes bordered by two such successive and differently oblique legs of two consecutive strands are of a fundamentally deltoid form; each strand also including consecutive legs disposed at equal angles to the axis of the strand, whereby the meshes bordered bylegs of the last named disposition in two consecutive strands are of the general form of parallelograms.

l. A strand for a chain link type of wire fabric comprising a wire bent to a zigzag formation of uniform width and presenting bights alternately at opposite edges of the strand with each two bights connected by a strand leg, the general direction of the strand legs being oblique to the general axis of the strand, the strand including a portion inter mediate of the end'legs of the strand in which the distances between consecutive bights at one edge of the strand are unequal.

5. A wire fabric comprising zigzag strands extending transversely of the fabric and consecutively intertwined so that each two consecutive strands border a row of meshes extending transversely of the fabric, all of the mesh sides of each such mesh having their general direction oblique to the longitudinal edges of the fabric; the zigzag formation of the strands being such that in certain of the said mesh rows a mesh is of less height transversely of the fabric than the meshes between which that mesh is interposed.

' 6. A wire fabric comprising consecutively intertwined zigzag strands each presenting consecutively diverging legs oblique to the axis of the strand; each strand including strand portions in which consecutive legs are of relatively difierent lengths, whereby these portions of two adjacent strands form meshes ofsubstantially deltoid shape; each strand also including at least one portion in which two consecutive legs are of equal length, so that the last named portions of two consecutive strands form meshes of.

parallelogram shape.

7. A wire fabric comprising consecutively intertwined zigzag strands extending transversely of the fabric and each presenting legs all oblique to its axis, with some of the legs (including each end leg of the strand and at least one leg spaced from both end legs) disposed at greater obliquity to the axis of the zigzag strand than other legs; whereby the corresponding legs in the several strands which. are at the said greater obliquity form zigzag lines in the fabric extending longitudinally of the fabric, and whereby the less oblique corresponding legs in the several strands form similarly extending zigzag lines of less angularity than the aforesaid zigzag lines. z 8. A wire fabric comprising consecutively intertwined zigzag strands each of uniform width and presenting consecutively diverging legs oblique to the axis of the strand; each strand including strand portions intermediate of its end legs, inwhich portions consecuitive legs are of relatively difierent lengths,

two consecutive strands form four-sided meshes of different appearance from the said deltoid-shaped meshes. V

9. A constituent strand for a chain link type of wire fabric comprising a wire bent to a flattened spiral zigzag formation of uniform spread and presenting consecutively diverging strand legs all oblique to the axis of the zigzag strand; the greater portion of the length of each strand being composed of legs extending at less obliquity to the said axis than the legs comprising the remaining portions of the strand, the latter legs including at least one leg spaced from both end legs of the strand, and at least one portion of the strand being composed of consecutive legs of equal obliquity.

I 10. A wire fabric comprising zigzag strands extending transversely of the fabric and consecutively intertwined so that each two consecutive strands border a row of meshes extending transversely of the fabric,

all of the sides of each such mesh having their general directions oblique to the longi tudinal edges of the fabric; the zigzag formation causing each strand to present an alined row of bights. at each edge, and be ing such that in each strand a bight at one edge thereof is spaced by unequal distances from the twobights at the same strand edgebetween which it is interposed, whereby the ARTHUR A. G. LAND.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, March 1st,