US786945A - Wire-stretcher. - Google Patents

Description

tures of the present invention.

UNITED STATES Patented April 11, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

' LAFAYETTE BAYS, OF ARBALA, TEXAS.

WIRE-STRETCHER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of 'Letters' PatentNo. 786,945, dated'April 11, 1905. Application filed March 31, 1904- Serial No. 200,998.

To a whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, LAFAYETTE BAYS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Arbala,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to wire-stretchers,

and has for its object to provide. a simple and improved device of this character capable of being conveniently applied to a fence-post for stretching a wire and arranged to hold the wire in its stretched condition while being fastened to the adjacent post.

It is furthermore designed to facilitate the engagement of a wire with the stretcher and to effectually obviate slipping'of the wire upon the device and also to provide for the convenient release of the wire after it has been fastened to the post.

With these and other objects in view the present invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts, as willbe hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointed out inlthe appended claims, it being understood that changes in the form, proportions, Size, and minor details may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a wire-stretcher embodying the fea- Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating the present stretcher applied to a post and locked to hold a wire while being fastened to the post. Fig. 3 is a detail view of one of the links of the chain carried by the stretcher.

Like characters of reference designate cor.- responding parts in each and every figure of the drawings.

The device of the present invention comprises a bar 1, preferably of wood and designed-to be used as a lever. Carried intermed-iately upon the top of the bar is a wireclamp made up of a stationary member 2, having a shank 3 fixed to the bar by means of suitable fastenings 4, and a jaw 5, carried at the rear of the shank and inclined transversely across the bar, with its outer and rear end provided with a tapered notch or bifurcation 6, forming a forked terminal for the jaw. In rear of the fixed member is a movable mem ber 7, which consists of a comparatively-long shank 8, which is intermediately pivoted to liquely across the bar and the movable jaw is disposed substantially parallel therewith when clamped thereagainst, the forked end of the movable jaw being at one edge of the bar and the forked end of the fixed jaw being at the opposite end thereof.

At the forward end of the lever is a wireengaging flexible connection 12 in the nature of a chain, which is secured to the under side of the bar through the medium of an eyebolt 13. This chain is made up of peculiarlyformed links, one of which has been shown in detail in Fig.8 of the drawings. Each link consists-of a bar 14, having one end formed into an eye 15 and its opposite end formed into a hook 16, the intermediate portion of the bar being provided with an eye or loop 17 When a plurality of such links are assembled to form a chain, the terminal eye ofone link is engaged with the intermediate eye of the next link in rear thereof, whereby the terminal hook of each link is free and capable of being engaged with a wire.

In using the device as shown in Fig. 2 of .the drawings the forward end of the lever is placed across and in contact with a fence-post 18, with the post located between the wireclamp and the forward end of the lever. One of the runner-wires 19 is then placed between the jaws of the wire-clamp, so as to engage the notches or forks thereof, after which the rear end of the lever is swung in the direction of the arrow, so as to place the desired tension upon the wire and stretch the same up to the adjacent post. When the wire has been stretched to the desired degree, the terminal hook of one of the links of the chain is engaged with the wire at a point in rear of the post, thereby looking or supporting the lever, so as to hold the wire in its stretched condition while it is being fastened to the adjacent post. After the wire has been secured to the post the movable jaw is swung away from the fixed jaw, so as to release the wire from the clamp, whereby the lever may be disengaged from the wire and moved to loosen the chain in order that the latter may also be disengaged from the wire, whereby the stretcher may be conveniently disengaged from the post and the Wire and then transferred to the next post.

While the device has been illustrated in connection with a barbed wire, it is just as applicable to a wire without barbs, as an unbarbed wire will not slip through the forks of the wire-clamp, and as the chain is set at an angle to the wire the hook engaged with the latter cannot slip thereon. V In addition to gripping the wire the forks also prevent lateral displacement of the wirefrom the clamp.

From the foregoing description it is apparent that the present invention provides an exceedingly simple and useful form of wirestretcher, the parts of which are located for convenient manipulation in applying and removing the stretcher, and no particular degree of skill is required for the eflective manipulation of the device.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, 1s-

l. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a

wire-clamp carried intermediately upon the lever, and a wire-engaging chain carried by the forward end of the lever and made up of links having hooks for individual engagement with a wire.

2. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a wire-clamp carried intermediately by the lever, and a flexible element loosely connected to the lever and provided with a series of wireengaging devices.

3. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a wire-clamp carried intermediately by the lever, and a chain loosely connected to the lever, the outer end of each link of the chain terminating in a hook with the rear end of the link loosely connected to an intermediate portion of the next in rear link.

A. A wire-stretcher comprising a lever, a wire-clamp carried intermediatcly by the lever, and a chain loosely connected to the lever, each link of the chain consisting of a bar having a terminal eye, a terminal hook at the opposite end of the bar, and an eye located intermediate of the ends of the bar, the terminal eye of each link being engaged with the intermediate eye of the next adjacent rear link.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

LAFAYETTE BAYS.

Witnesses:

THos. P. HAIL, W. B. THoMAs.

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