A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FENCES, PALING, AND SUCH-LIKE ENCLOSURES OF SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Henson Henson, of No. 24, Lawrence
Pountney Lane, in the City of London, for the Invention of "A
NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FENCES, PALING, AND SUCH-LIKE
ENCLOSURES OF SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL.”
Sealed the 28th April 1871, and dated the 24th November 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Henson Henson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th November 1870.
I, HENRY HENSON HENSON, of No. 24, Lawrence Pountney Lane, in
the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FENCES, PALING, AND SUCH-LIKE
ENCLOSURES OF SHEET IRON AND OTHER METAL," to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the application of sheet iron or other
sheet metal for the production of a new, useful, cheap, and durable
description of fences, palings, and such-like enclosures for parks, land,
railways, and other localities, as a substitute for the more expensive and
perishable materials now employed for those purposes.

page_text: My Invention consists mainly in stamping, rolling, embossing, cutting,
or perforating such sheet iron or other sheet metal in such manner
as to produce either closed or open panels or separate rails and bars or
palings of a definite design of any desired configuration and secured to
each other and to metal posts in various ways according to the design
contemplated and the purpose to which the enclosure is to be applied.
Thus according to one mode of carrying my Invention into effect
sheet iron or other sheet metal is stamped or rolled so as to produce
panels of a more or less ornamental raised design which may be partly
cut or perforated so as to produce open spaces, or the sheet metal may
be simply so cut or perforated as to produce open spaces without raising
or embossing the surface. Such panels may be secured in any con-
venient manner to wrought or cast-iron posts and may or may not
be provided with a separate metal capping, as also if required with a
separate metal kerb.
According to another mode of construction separate rails, posts, and
pales are formed by cutting, stamping, or embossing sheet iron or.
other sheet metal so as to produce any required ornamental or plain
configuration of the parts which are then secured together by rivetting
or other suitable means.
According to another mode of construction sheet metal either
previously corrugated or plain is so cut or perforated as to produce open
spaces of more or less ornamental appearance in imitation of balustrades
or other designs, and the top may be indented in imitation of pallisades
or other forms, such sheet metal being secured to metal posts and if
necessary to metal rails or to a light cast iron or rolled sheet metal curb
or base.
I am aware that corrugated sheet iron and possibly flat sheet iron
may have been used as a fencing or enclosure, but not according to my
present Invention, whereby sheet metal is cut, stamped, rolled, or
embossed so as to produce fencing, palings, or other enclosures of
definite designs of more or less ornamental appearance.
I prefer to employ my before-described improved construction of
fences, palings, or other enclosures without the use of wood in their
combination, thereby ensuring greater durability than such structures
made wholly or partly of wood, but if required some parts thereof may
also be of wood (by preference indurated or rendered more or less fireproof')
without departing from the nature of my Invention.

page_text: It will be evident that if sheet iron is employed the surfaces thereof
may be protected from oxidation either by "galvanizing" the same or
coating with zinc, or by coating them with mineral, or other paint,
varnish, or vitreous enamel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Henson Henson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th May 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
HENSON HENSON, of No. 24, Lawrence Pountney Lane, in the City of
London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry Henson Henson, Her special
licence that I, the said Henry Henson Henson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Henson
Henson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, excrcise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"A NEW OR IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF FENCES, PALING, AND
ENCLOSURES OF Sheet Iron and other Metal," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Henson Henson, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
SUCH-LIKE
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Henson Henson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accom-

page_text: .
panying Sheet of Drawings, and to the Figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
My Invention has for its object the application of sheet iron or other
sheet metal, in the manner herein-after described for the production of
a new useful cheap and durable description of fences, palings, and such.
like enclosures for parks, lands, railways, and other localities, as a sub-
stitute for the more expensive and perishable materials now employed
for those purposes.
My Invention consists mainly in stamping, rolling, embossing, cutting,
or perforating such sheet iron or other sheet metal, in such manner as to
produce either closed or open panels, or separate rails and bars, and so
form fences or palings of a given definite design of any desired con-
figuration and capable of being secured to each other and to metal posts
in various way according to the design contemplated and the purpose to
which the enclosure is to be applied.
Thus according to one mode of carrying my Invention into effect,
sheet iron or other sheet metal is stamped or rolled so as to produce
panels of a more or less ornamental raised design, which may be partly
cut or perforated, so as to produce open spaces, or the sheet metal may
be simply so cut or perforated as to produce open spaces without raising
or embossing the surface. Such panels or sheets are secured in any
convenient manner to wrought or cast-iron posts, and may or may not
be provided with a separate metal capping, as also if required with a
separate metal kerb, plynth, or base.
According to another mode of construction I employ separate rails,
posts, and pales, formed by rolling, cutting, stamping, or embossing sheet
iron or other sheet metal so as to produce palings or fencing having the
required ornamental or plain configuration of the parts, the parts being
secured together by rivetting them or by other suitable means.
According to another mode of construction I employ sheets of metal
either previously corrugated or plain, the sheets being cut or perforated
so as to produce open spaces of more or less ornamental appearance in
imitation of balustrades or other designs, the tops of the sheets may be
indented in imitation of pallisades or other forms, the sheets are secured
to metal posts and if necessary to metal rails or to light cast iron or
rolled sheet metal kerbs or bases.

page_text: I am aware that corrugated sheet iron and possibly flat sheet iron may
have been before used as a fencing or enclosure, and I do not claim
as being of my Invention such use of such sheets, I prefer to employ
metal only in my improved construction of fences, palings, or other
enclosures without the use of wood in their combination, as I thereby
insure greater durability than is found in like structures made wholly or
partly of wood, but if required some parts thereof may be made of wood,
and in that case it should be by preference indurated or rendered less
liable to decay or more or less fireproof. Where sheet iron is employed
in palings or fences of my improved construction, the surfaces thereof
may be protected from oxidation either by "galvanizing" or coating the
same with zinc or by coating them (by preference while warm) with oil
mineral or other paint, varnish, or vitreous enamel.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings are shewn some of the various
forms of sheet metal fencing, or such like enclosures, which I employ in
carrying my Invention Intvention into practice.
Figure 1 shews an elevation and sectional plan of a form of sheet
metal fencing A, made to represent ordinary split rough oak fencing,
the sheet metal being for this purpose rolled or stamped, so as to assume
the serrated configuration shewn in the section, and also to receive a
grained or roughened appearance on the surface to imitate the rough
grain of the oak, the upper edge may either be plain or indented as
shewn. The fencing is formed in such lengths as may be convenient
for manufacture, one or more such lengths constituting a panel, which
is secured at the ends by screw bolts, rivets, or other fastenings to post B
by preference of T, or angle iron pointed at the lower ends to facilitate
the driving of the same into the ground, and if necessary the fencing
may be further strengthened by one or more longitudinal rails of angle, T,
or other section of iron fixed at the ends to the posts, and to which the
fencing is secured at intervals by rivets, or screw bolts and nuts.
Figure 2 shews an elevation and sectional plan of a sheet metal
fencing A' rolled or stamped, so as to produce alternate angular ridges
and furrows, a narrow flat surface a being formed at the bottom of each
furrow as shewn in which flat portion holes are made for the insertion of
the rivets or screws by which the fencing is fixed to the longitudinal
rails C secured as before mentioned to the vertical posts B to which the
ends of the panels are also secured. This form of fencing may be made
more or less ornamental by perforating or cutting out portions b, b, in

page_text: each ridge as shewn at Figure 2, or it may be left plain as shewn at
Figure 3. The fencing may be formed with a vandyked upper edge as
shewn or it may be left straight, and either provided or not with a
separate capping of rolled or sheet metal, or of malleable or ordinary cast
iron of more or less ornamental appearance.
Figure 4 shews another modification of this form of fencing, in
which wider flat portions a are formed between the ridges in which
flat surfaces portions are cut or stamped out for the purpose of orna-
mentation.
Figure 5 shews another form of fencing made in imitation of an
ordinary open wood fence with longitudinal rails and vertical pales. The
sheet metal may either be left entirely flat as at A² with the portions a,
stamped out or it may be raised by stamping or rolling to assume either
of the forms shewn at A³, A', and A, Figure 6 shews at A° and A' two
other modifications of this form of fencing.
.
At Figures 7 and 8 are shewn two other forms of open fencing, the
bars A and spaces a, being made much narrower in proportion to the
height than in the forms at Figures 5 and 6; at Figure 7 the entire
surface is flat, while at Figure 8 the bars are raised.
Figure 9 shews a close fence formed of panels having continuous flat
surfaces at D and longitudinal raised portions at D' in imitation of arris
rails, which parts D¹ may be rolled separately if desired and fixed by
rivets to stiffen the fencing. The upper edge of the fencing may either
be plain or vandyked as shewn, or a separate vandyked or other capping
of cut sheet metal or of cast or malleable iron may be fixed thereon.
Figures 10, 11, and 12; shew other forms of close fencing, the vertical
and longitudinal parts D' at Figure 10, being raised upon or sunk, in
the flat surface D while at Figure 11 the small angular sunk portions D³
are intended to represent the chamfered joints of close boarding, and the
raised longitudinal parts D* arris rails, which parts D' may be made
separately if desired and fixed to the other part. At Figure 12 panels D
are formed between the raised, vertical, and longitudinal parts D³ in
which panels raised or sunk lozenges D³ or other ornamental devices are
produced by stamping, pressing, rolling, or the like.
Figures 13, 14, and 15 shew different forms of trelliswork of various
dimensions produced in sheet metal according to my Invention.

page_text: At Figures 13 and 14 the metal of the trelliswork E is left flat, the
spaces e, e, being punched out by stamping or rolling, and longitudinal
raised portions E' are formed in imitation of rails for imparting rigidity
to the latticework. When such latticework is produced by rolling, the
one roll would have projections on its surface corresponding in con-
figuration with the open spaces of the trelliswork, which projections
would fit into corresponding recesses in the other roll, so as to punch
out corresponding portions of the sheet of metal as this passes through
between the rolls. At Figure 15 the trelliswork E2 is raised by stamping.
Latticework may also be manufactured according to my Invention by
rolling, pressing, stamping, or embossing separate strips of sheet metal,
so as to produce laths of any desired raised section, which are then
placed with their back surfaces against each other, and rivetted together
where they intersect, leaving open spaces of various designs.
'
Figures 16 to 20 show various forms of ornamental fencing produced
by perforating or stamping out portions of corrugated sheet iron, to form
more or less ornamental devices. At Figures 16 and 17 portions f, f,
are stamped out of the ridges of the corrugated metal F, so as to leave
parts Fin the form of balusters or other devices, or the entire rectangular
opening may be stamped out, and the balusters F1 (formed either of
stamped sheet metal or of malleable cast iron) be subsequently fixed in
the rectangular opening by rivetting or otherwise. The fencing may
either be provided with a separate metal capping G (by preference of
malleable cast iron), as at Figure 16, or be left without a capping, as at
Figure 17. At Figure 18 openings fare formed in the valleys of the
corrugated sheet metal F, and more or less ornamental heads F are
cither formed by stamping or cutting, or are fixed by rivetting on the
upper edge of the fencing, or the perforations or openings may be made
on the ridges of the corrugations, as at f, f', Figure 19. Figure 20
shews a similar form of fencing produced from sheet metal with
" Italian corrugations, that is, with flat surfaces F³ intervening
between the corrugations F, on which surfaces perforations f and
ornamental heads F are formed by stamping, or the heads may be
made separately and fixed on by rivetting or otherwise. A cast or
wrought metal kerb H may be provided at the bottom.
"
Figure 21 shews a form of my improved sheet metal fencing made in
imitation of cast-iron railings. The spaces between the raised vertical
bars I and longitudinal bars. I' may either be stamped out entirely, as

page_text: at i, i, or be formed with ornamentations, as at ',, or the flat metal
surface may be left therein as at 3. Ornamental heads I may either be
stamped out of the sheet metal itself, or be fixed on subsequently. A
cast or wrought metal kerb M may be fixed to the bottom of the fencing,
as shewn.
Figure 22 shews a modification of my improved fencing, composed of
longitudinal rails K, either formed of rolled sheet metal of any suitable
sectional form, such as shewn, or they may be of angle, T, or thin bar
iron, to which rails are fixed vertical pales K¹ of rolled or stamped sheet
metal, either of the sectional forms shewn, or of any other more or less
ornamental configuration.
Figure 23 shews a modification of my improved fencing composed of
rolled sheet metal rails L of the sections shewn, or of any other suitable
raised section, fixed to vertical posts of angle or T iron B driven into
the ground.
Figure 24 shews a similar form of rails L in moderate lengths fixed at
each end to angle iron posts B, so as to form portable fencing, the posts
being by preference formed with prongs or feet, as shewn, such as hero-
tofore employed for steadying them in the ground. The separate lengths.
of fencing arc secured together by screw bolts, keys, or other fastenings
passing through the contiguous flanges of the angle iron posts.
In constructing sheet metal fencing made according to my Invention
as above described, the preparation of the sheet metal by stamping,
rolling, pressing, shaping, moulding, embossing, or shearing may be
effected either by means of one single operation of the machinery, or
by consecutive operations, either in one and the same machine, or in
separate machines, and the metal may either be treated in the cold state,
or be previously treated.
When complex designs, such as those shown at Figures 5, 6, 10, 11,
12, 15, and 21, are to be produced, the metal sheets should be previously
hcated to about a red heat before. being subjected to the action of
the dies.
The panels of fencing may be produced either from one single piece
of sheet metal, or from two or more pieces, as may be found most con-
venient for manufacture, and when the fencing is composed of separate
posts, rails, and pales, these may either be fixed together at the place of
manufacture, or they may be produced and sold separately, with the

page_text: rivet or bolt holes or other means of fixing formed or provided thereon.
The fixing of the pales or panels to the rails and posts may be effected
either by rivets, screw bolts, or by any other suitable fastening, and the
rails may be secured to the posts by like fastenings, or by passing the
rail or rails through a mortice or opening in the flanges of the posts, or
by means of malleable cast-iron hooks, eyes, or staples, or like con-
trivances attached to the posts. The sheet metal fencing may, as before
described, be combined with parts such a scappings, kerbs, or ornaments
made of ordinary or malleable cast iron. In order to insure that the
posts to which the panels of fencing are to be fixed are driven at equal
distances and parallel to each other into the ground, so that the panels
shall fit in between them accurately, I prefer to employ a guide or gauge
bar extending from post to post, with apertures formed therein through
which the posts pass.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I
do not limit myself to the various designs of sheet metal fencing herein-
before described and shewn on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, as
it is evident that a great variety of other designs may be devised for
carrying my Invention into practice; I also wish it to be understood
that I do not claim the use of ordinary flat or corrugated sheet metal
for fencing or enclosures; but what I claim is,-
First. Making, as herein-before described, fences, palings, and such-
like enclosures of sheets of iron or other metal (other than ordinary
corrugated sheet metal), the sheets being stamped, rolled, embossed,
perforated, or cut, so as to produce definite designs of a more or less
ornamental appearance, substantially as herein-before set forth.
Second. Making, as herein-before described, fences, palings, and such-
like enclosures of corrugated sheets of metal when such sheets are
stamped, perforated, or cut, so as to produce open spaces therein, forming
designs of more or less ornamental appearance, substantially as hercin-
before set forth.
Third. Making, as herein-before described, fences, palings, and such-
like enclosures by forming them of separate pales made of sheet metal,
either stamped, rolled, embossed, perforated, or cut, and fixed to rails,
which may or may not be of sheet metal similarly treated, and which

page_text: are secured to posts by rivets, screws, or other means, substantially as
herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Henson Henson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-one.