US52795A - Improvement in fences - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES PATENT OEETCE.

RUSSEL PROUTY, OF SPRINGFIELD, IOWA, ASSIGNOR TOJ. ELDER AND J. B. WILSON, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN FENCES.

Specitication forming-part of Letters Patent No. 52,795, dated February 20, 1866.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, RUSSEL PROUTY, of Springtield, in the county of Keokuk and State ot' Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Fence; andI do hereby declare that the followingl is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the sanne, reference being had t0 the accompanying drawings, forming part ot' this specification, in which- Figure 1 is an elevation ot' my invention Fig. 2, a transverse vertical section of the same, taken in the line x w, Fig. l; Fig. 3, a transverse vertical section of the same, taken in the line y y, Fig. l.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to anew and improved fence of that class in which pieketsor upright slats are employed; and it consists in a novel manner of attaching the pickets or upright slats to wires which are secured to the fenceposts, whereby a very cheap and durable fence is obtained.

A A represent two posts of my improved fence, and B B are two wires, which are secured to the posts A A, one near their upper and the other near the1r lower ends, as shown in Fig. l.

C O represent the pickets or upright slats, each of which has two oblique grooves or slots, au', sawed in them, the upper grooves, a, inclining upward from the side of the picket, and the lower grooves, tt', inclining downward from the same side, as shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 8. The grooves tt a of every alternate picket O are nearer together than those otl the intermediate pickets, C', as will be seen by referring to. Figs. 2' and 3.

These pickets O O', being thus provided with grooves, are iitted on the wires B B, the latter being pressed into the grooves act', and in consequence of the grooves of every alternate picket C being nearer together than those ot' the intermediate pickets, C', the wires B B will be bent in zigzag form, as shown in Fig. 1.

By this arrangement it will be seen that the pickets are prevented from slipping laterally ott1 from the wires B B, and are also prevented from slipping on the wires, the zigzag form ot' the latter. caused by the difference in the position of the grooves a a of the pickets C O', keeping the latter parallel with each other while the wires are strained tight, so as to render the i'ence stift' and firm. It will also be `apparent that by ina-king the grooves in the alternate pickets at different distances apart the two wires are made to strain in'opposition to each other upon each picket.

I am aware that fences have before been made with vertical slats held by wires which engage in oblique notches on the said slats, as described in Letters Iatent granted Septe1nber29, 1857, to J. B. lteyman. This, therefore, I do not claim. Said Reymans fence has, however, been found seriously defective by reason ot' there being nothing to secure to secure the slats against sidewise displacement. This defect, which renders the fences now in use ot' no practical vaille, I have cft'ectually removed by cutting the notches in every alternate slat at a greater distance asnnder than in the intermediate slats, so that the wires will be forced into the zigzag shape represented in Fig. 1 and the slats eftectually held against displacement without other attachment.

What I claim as new, therefore, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The combination and arrangement herein described ofthe posts A A, wires B, and pickets or slats O Of, when said. pickets or slats are provided with oblique notches ct and a. made at different distances apart in the successive or adjacent pickets, so as to force the wires into a zigzag shape and cause the two wires to strain in opposition upon each picket, as a-nd for the purposes specilied.

e RUSSEL PROUTY.

Witnesses:

D. B. FAIRBANKs, WM. TREWIN.

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