US388974A - Wire-fence-building apparatus - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. A. HOOTON & G. L. WIARD. WIRE FENCE BUILDING APPARATUS.

.974. Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

K r 1v WITNESES:

an. D. C.

N. PETERS. P om-Lva (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. A. HOOTON & G. L. WIARD.

WIRE FENCE BUILDING APPARATUS.

No. 388,974. Patented Sept. 4, 1888.

INVENTOE:

WITNESSES: fim' ATTORNEYS.

NITED *rnrns Parent Darren.

JDHN A. HOOTON AND GILBERT L. VVIARD, OF CLIFTON, NEBRASKA.

WI RE-F ENCE-BUILDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,974, dated September t, 1888.

Application filed November 1, 1887. Serial No. 253,964. (No model.)

To a'ZZ whom. it may concern.-

Be itknown that we, J OHN A. Hooron and GILBERT L. W'rnnn, of Clifton, in the county of Holt and State of Nebraska, have invented new and useful Improvements in VVire-Fence Building Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

Our invention relates to an apparatus for building wire fences by the aid of a wire-twisting machine of any approved construction, which soon res the pickets between the stretched-wire stringers of the fence.

The invention has for its object to provide a simple,incxpensive, and effective spool-rack and connected tension devices, by which the wires may be held and fed in pairs to the twisting device and maintained at uniform tension to assure proper weaving in of the pickets,and allowing the work to be accomplished with economy of time and labor.

The invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts of the fence-building apparatus, all as hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a side elevation illustrating the building of a wire fence by the aid of our in1- proved apparatus. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the wire-spool rack, partly broken away and in section, and one of the wire-tension de vices. Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the tension device and the two strands of fencewire thereon, and Fig. 4 is aperspective View of the tension device and fence-wires and the two spools which deliver the wires to the tension.

Our improvements relate particularly to the rack which carries the spools from which the fence-wires run to tension devices of peculiar and novel coustruction,as hereinafter fully explained.

The spool -rack A is made with a main frame, 13, consisting, preferably, of three bars, I) b I), connected to a sill, b, and a head or top cross-bar, Z), and a series of braces consisting of one pair of bars,0 O, which are pivotally connected to the opposite sides of the rack-frame B at or near its top and by means of staples c 0, and a pair of braces consisting of bars D D, which are pivotally connected. at cl with the center bar,b,of the frame B, and at their free ends are adapted to enter notches d (2, made near the lower ends of the respective brace-bars O O. The cross bar or sill I)" of the rack-frame is provided with a series of heavy pins, Envhich, together with the lower ends of the brace-bars G 0, enter the ground. The construction of the rack causes it to be planted all the more firmly on and in the ground as the strain of the fencewires on it increases, and whereby when the apparatus is once set up and in use no attention need be given to the rack, as it' anchors itself firmly to the earth, and thereby promotes a saving of labor and consequent economy in building the fence. WVhen the rack is out of use, it may be folded with the braces G D, flat or nearly so, onto the frame 13 for economy of space during transportation or storage.

A series of shafts, F, are journaled in suitable boxes on the rack-frame B, preferably five shafts, and on each shaft are mounted two spools, G G, from which'two strands of wire pass to a tension device, I, presently described, and thence to a wire-twisting machine, J, which may have any preferred construction, and simultaneously twists the pairs of wire strands leading from the two spools on each shaft between and around the pickets K and the posts L in the line of the fence in a wellknown manner. The fenceposts L are stayed properly by braces Z, as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Each spool-shaft F has a crank, f, fixed or applied to it for taking up the slack of the fence-wires when they are first stretched along the fence-posts preparatory to weaving the pickets into the fence by the twister.

The tension device I, which is an important feature of our invention, we particularly describe as follows: The main part of the tension device is a spirally-twisted rod, M, made substantially like the body of an anger or boringbit, and preferably having its helical twists formed like the threads of a doublethreaded screw, the grooves or spaces in m of the two threads alternating along the rod M to allow one of the two wires H H, leading from the two spools G G, to be passed into each of the spaces or grooves m m of the rod, after being first passed into or through loops too or eyes n n at opposite ends of a wire converging bar or rod, N, which is placed behind the downwardly-bent end m of the tension-rod M, and beneath a screw or rod, P, which is fixed to the center bar, I), of the frame B, and has an eye, 1), through which the end an of the rod M passes. From the wire retaining or guiding bar N the two wires H H pass forward to enter their separate spiral grooves in m in the tension-rod M, and a staple, O, which is fitted tightly to the rod M,serves as a wirecast-off device to throw the two wires out of the spiral grooves of the tension-rod when they shall have been turned around this red a sufficient number of times to give the required tension to the wires as they pay out from the spools G to the twister J. The wires H H may be readily slipped into the loops or eyes at n of the guide N. Should the tension-rod M have an eye engaging a bent or headed hook or bar attached to the rack-frame, the guide will lie behind the bend or head of said hook, as will readily be understood.

The operation of the aparatus is as follows: The spool-rack A will be set up at proper place a convenient distance from the first post of the fence, and the wires H will be strung along the line of fence-posts L, and will be secured to the first post after having been first passed through the rotary heads j of the twister J; or, if preferred, the rack may be mounted on a wheeled truck anda wagon, and when the wires are secured to the end post and strung through the twister the entire rack may be moved off along the line of the fence to at once pay out from the rack-reels all the wires used in the fence and without crossing or twisting them. WVhen the spool-rack is put in place, the spool-shafts and spools will be turned by the cranks f to take up the slack of the wires, and the two wires which lead from the two spools on each shaft will then be caught separately into the spiral grooves m m at the back end of the tension-rod M, and the staple 0, having been adjusted on the rod at the proper place to allow any desired number of twists of the wires H H on the rod M, the rod will be turned to twist the wires on it up to the cast-off device or staple O, which holds them out of the forward spiral grooves of the tension-rod, and the bent-back end m of the rod will then be slipped into the eye p of the retaining device 1? to prevent recoil or back-turning of the rod, and after the wire guide N is laid against and behind the end at? of the rod M, so that it cannot be drawn forward by the pull on the wires H H, the latter will be slipped into the eyes or loops n n of the guide N, and when all the pairs of wires H H have been so adjusted with their tension devices for each double strand of wire used, the weaving-in of the pickets may be proceeded with. As each picketK is wedged to place against the last twisted portions of the fence-wire strands, the twisterJ will be operated to twist the pairs of wires around the picket, and this will draw the wires H from the spools G and through the spiral grooves of the tension-device rods M. which by friction of the wires on them will maintain all the double strands of wires used ata uniform tension, so that the pickets shall be held with uniform grip by each twisted double strand of wire; hence the strains to which the fence may be subjected will be borne alike by all the strands, thus promoting the durability of the fence. The tension on the double strands of wiresH H may be increased or decreased at will by giving a greater or less number of turns to the tension-rods M around and along which the wires pass.

It is obvious that tension-rods M having a Y single thread providing but one helical groove around them into andalong which both wires H H of a pair are passed may be used, and our invention embraces this feature; but by providing a double thread or two helical grooves along the tension-rods, one for each wire of a pair of wires, as above explained, each of the separate wires will be put under tension separately and independently of friction one on the other,which gives evident advantages in assuring a uniform twist of both the wires on each other between the pickets, and therefore promotes durability of the entire fence.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In a wire-fence-building apparatus, the wire-spool rack A, constructed with a frame, B, on which the spools have bearings, braces O O, pivoted to the head of the frame, and braces D D, held to the lower portion of the frame and entering notches d in the braces O, substantially as herein set forth.

2. In a wire-fence-building apparatus, the wire-spool rack A, constructed with a frame, B, on which the spools have bearings and provided with lower teeth, E, entering the ground, braces O G, pivoted to the head of the frame, and braces D D, held to the lower portion of the frame and entering notches d in the braces O, substantially as herein set forth.

3. A wire-fence-building apparatus comprising aspool-rack, two wire-spools j ournaled thereon, and a tension device receiving a wire from each of the spools and consisting of a spirally-grooved rod around which the wires are turned and passed thence to a twisting device, a staple or wire castingpfi device fitted at the forward part of the tension-rod, and a retainer holding the back end of the tensionrod and preventing its turning, substantially as herein set forth.

4. A wire-fence-building apparatus comprising a spool-rack,two wire-spools journaled thereon, and a tension device receiving a wire from each of the spools and consisting of adouble-threaded rod having two spiral grooves, each groove receiving one of the wires and passing it to a twisting device, a staple or wire.

casting-off device fitted at the forward partof the tensionrod, and a retainer holding the IIO back end of the tension-rod and preventing its turning, substantially as herein set forth.

5. A wire-feneebuilding machine co1npris ing a spool-rack, two wire-spools journaled thereon, a tension device receiving said wires from the spools and consisting of a spirallygrooved rod around which the wires are turned and passed thence to atwisting device, a staple or wire castingoff device fitted at the forward part of the tension-rod, a retainer holding the back end of the tension-rod and preventing its turning, and a guide placed on the wires between the spools and the tension device, substantially as herein set forth.

6. In a wirefence-building apparatus, the combination, with a spool-rack, of a shaft, F,

two spools, G G, thereon carrying wires H H, a tensiondeviee comprising a spirally-grooved rod, M, around and along which the wires are passed, a staple, O, casting ofif the wires at 20 the spools and the tension device, substantially 25 as described, for the purposes set forth.

JOHN A. HOOTON. GILBERT L. WIARD.

Witnesses:

A. O. CROSSMAN, JOHN FORREST.

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