US592787A - Wire-tightener and fence-ratchet - Google Patents

Description

( No Model.)

, W E JUDY 8a J ROBESON WIRE TIGHTENER AND FENCE RATGHET. No. 592,787

Patented Nov. 2, 1897.

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ATFENT FIQEQ WILLIAM E. JUDY AND JOHN ROBESON, OF NEAR GREENVILLE, OHIO.

WIRE-TIGHTENER AND FENCE-RATCHET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 592,787, dated November 2, 1897.

I Application filed July 6,1897. Serial No. 643,612. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, WILLIAM E. JUDY and JOHN ROBESON, citizens of the United States, residing near Greenville, in the county of Darke and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement upon WVire-Tighteners and Fence-Ratchets, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in ratchets for the purpose of tightening and keeping thoroughly stretched any long strands of wire required to be kept tight, such as wires used in the construction of Wire fences.

The objects of our improvement are to provide a ratchet and tightener that may be put on the wire midway between fastenings, that will be light and easily put on the fence or other wire, that will be self-locking with the simplest mechanism and the fewest movable parts, that will permit the tension of wire to be held at any required degree, that will avoid excessive weight and a cumbersome appliance, and that will be a machine more easily put on the wire and will hold more securely.

than anyother wire-tightener or fence-ratchet. These objects are obtained by the mechanism illustrated in the drawings heretofore-filed and described as follows:

This tightener consists of a disk wheel, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4:, and 6, with a rim B B projecting on one side, the rim being made into a ratchet O 0, together with a projecting hub D D, slotted, notched, and grooved; also of a wrench, Figs. 5, 7, and 9, fitted to this hub for the purpose of winding up the wire.

Fig. 1 represents the flat side of the disk with square hole, which is denominated in this specification the outside of the wheel.

Fig. 3 represents the reverse side of the wheel, and is denominated in this specification the inside, and also shows the wire W W in the notches. Fig. 2represents a View of the edge of the disk, showing the projecting rim, the ratchet-notches, the projecting hub with wire coiled about the same and caught in the ratchet-notch. Figs. 4 and 6 show reverse views of the edge of the wheel with part of the rim broken to show the hub, the slots, the notches in these slots, and the shallow groove from the notches. Figs. 5, 7, and 9 show the wrench. Fig. 8 shows the square-ended lug with round head and slot for the movable handle-bar.

This tightener may be made of any convenient size, and it may be made of cast-iron or any other suitable material.

The improvement in this ratchet consists in having the edge of the projecting rim of the wheel supplied with sixteen ratchet-teeth O C, Fig. 2. These ratchet-teeth, instead of being square projections, as in most other ratchets, have a slope to the bottom of the notch at one-fourth pitch, and the bottom of these notchesis round to fit a N0. 8 or smaller fencewire. By having these ratchet-teeth thus sloped the tightener is held more securely to the wire, and by having the large number of teeth on the rim of the wheel the tightener may be stopped at any point and any required tension of the wire may be obtained. The hub of the wheel, which projects within the rim, has two slots E E in opposite sides, Figs. 4 and 6 of the drawings filed herein, for the purpose of allowing the tightener to be slipped over the wire. Instead of having a flange at the inner end of this hub, 'as in some ratchets, so as to form a sort of spool with which to hold the wire, two (or more, if desired) notches F F are put on one side of each slot, so as to be exactly opposite each other,Figs.4 and 6. These notches fit upon the wire when the tightener is put on and avoid the necessity of any other contriva-nce to enable the machine to be started. At the outer edge of each notch in the slots in the hub a shallow groove G G, Figs. 4 and 6, extends in a spiral toward the disk of the wheel for a short distance around the hub. By means of these notches and the shallow groove the wire is firmly held in place and caused to roll always toward the disk of the Wheel, and

thereby is pressed firmly against the ratchet- The slots in the hub are carried deeper than those on any other similar ratchet, and thus permit this machine to be put on very loose wire as well as upon wires that require but little tightening.

The Wrench consists of a square-ended lug II, Fig. 8, with round head upon a movable hand1e-bar K K, Fig. 9. The square end is constructed to fit into the square hole in the outer end of the hub L, Fig. 1. This wrench, it is be1ieved,-will be found more convenient for all purposes than any otherv device for the purpose of moving the ratchet.

\Vhat we claim for this improvement and invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A metallic wire-tightener or ratchet with wrench or key, having a disk with a projectnotches around the hub toward the disk; all 30 substantially as set forth.

\VILLIAM E. JUDY. JOHN ROBESON. Witnesses:

A. M. BUOHWALTER, W. B. IIoUGH.

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