US437402A

US437402A - William o

Info

Publication number: US437402A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1890-09-30
Anticipated expiration: 1907-09-30

Description

(No Model.) W. 0. McGEE.-

' MAdHINE FOR STRETGHING BARBED WIRE.

-No. 437,402. I Patent'ed Sept. 30. 1890.

:8 mill- .7 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM 0. MCGEE, OF RICHMOND, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO GEO. W. MOGAUGH, or SAME PLACE.

MACHINE FOR STRETCHING BARBED WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No, 437,402, dated September 30, 1890.

Application filed July 22,1889. Serial No. 318,309. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WILLIAM O. MCGEE,Of Richmond, in the county of Ray and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Stretching Barbed and Smooth Wire; and Ido herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use it, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in machines for stretching barbed and smooth wire; and it consists in the combination and arrangement of parts which will be more fully described hereinafter, and particularly set forthin the claims.

The object of my invention is to provide a machine for stretching both barbed and smooth wires, which when the washer is applied to one end of the reel will allow the wire to be freely reeled oif, but when applied upon the shaft to the other end of the reel locks the reel to the shaft and makes it revolve therewith for the purpose of stretching the wire.

Figure l is a plan view of a machine which embodies my invention, showing the washer applied to one end of the reel. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the washer applied to the other end of the reel. Fig. 3 is a rear View of the machine. Fig. 4 is a detached view of the cranked shaft and its catch.

A represents the axle, B the supportingwheels, and O the tongue.

Mounted upon the axle and the tongue is the frame D, which is secured to the axle nearer to one end than the other. The tongue is also placed nearer one of the wheels than the other, so as to come just under the center of the frame D. The frame and tongue are thus moved nearer to one of the wheels B and away from the other, so as to allow the crank G upon the shaft H to be freely turned without interfering with the wheels.

Mounted upon the top of the frame D are the standards I, which are suitably braced in position and which have their upper ends notched or pronged or otherwise suitably constructed, so as to form suitable journals or bearings for the shaft H. Through the notched portion at the top of one of these standards is passed a horizontal pin J which holds the shaft in position at that end which is not provided with a crank; but the other standard is not provided with a pin, so as to allow the shaft to be freely removed and replaced at will.

The shaft H is provided with the catch 0 near its cranked end, and that portionof the shaft beyond the catch passes freely through the reel Q, of ordinary construction, and upon which either the smooth or barbed wire is wrapped. The catch 0 is made sufficiently deep to receive a washer P or to catch over one of the end pieces U upon the reel, as may be desired. If the washer P is first placed upon the shaft and moved up into the catch, it fills the catch, so that the catch cannot en gage with the end of the reel, and then the reelcan be turned freely in either direction upon the shaft. If, however, the washer is removed from the catch and the reel is placed upon the shaft first and the washer upon the outer end of the shaft, where it projects through the reel, the catch at once engages with one of the end pieces of the reel by catching over opposite sides thereof, and thus causes the reel to be revolved by the shaft for the purpose of tightening the wire. While the reel is engaged with the catch the washer simply serves to force the reel over toward the catch and hold it in connection therewith, so as to prevent any'slipping. When the reel is allowed to revolve freely upon the shaft, the wire will reel off as the machine is being drawn along; but when the reel is fastened to the shaft by means of the catch a person can place any desired amount of tension upon the wire by simply turning the shaft in the desired direction.

By means of a machine constructed as here shown and described the'wire to be used in the making of the fence can first be rapidly reeled off alongthe line upon which the fence is being built, and then it can be stretched with any desired amount of tension.

When desired, the wire can be wound back upon the same spool from which it was taken.

It is only necessary to lock the spool to the the machine is moved backward. In this manner the wire can be quickly replaced upon the spool when so desired. It is not necessary to make new spools; but the spools upon whichthe wire comes are to be placed in the machine and operated as already described.

The object of the washer P is to provide a means for filling up the catch 0, as before described, and the great advantage derived from this construction is that while the spool is held against any lateral play upon the shaft, whlch is very undesirable, the spool cannot possibly be caught or in any manner interfered with in its free revolution by the catch, which enables the wire to be rapidly run out, andthen by removing the washer and placng it at the other end of the spool the spool is normally and permanently locked in that po- 81 01011 to the shaft for the purpose of tightenmg the wire. The spool has a lateral movement upon the shaft just equal to the thickness of the washer, so that when the washer is placed upon the shaft at either end of the spool it is held against any lateral movement thereon. If no means were provided for filling up a catch of the form here shown, the

spool would be continually engagingthe shaft while the wire was being run out.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- In a wheeled wire-stretcher, the combination of the vehicle, the standards, a cranked shaft journaled therein, a catch secured to one end of the shaft inside of the standards, having a groove across its face, the reel placed upon the shaft and of alength less than the distance between the two standards, and a washer adapted to be placed either in the said groove of the catch or upon the shaft at the opposite end of the spool, the said washer being of a thickness substantially equal to the dilference between the length of the spool and the space between the standards, whereby the said spool is either normally held in contact with the catch or out of contact therewith, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

WILLIAM O. MCGEE. 'Witnesses:

HENRY D. S. KELLER, FLETCHER J. GRAHAM.