and other like Purposes.
Year: 1885

page_text: and other like Purposes. -
I, WILLIAM ORR of 45 West Nile Street Glasgow in the County of Lanark,,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN METAL FENCING" to be as follows:-
.
This invention principally relates to the upright supports of metal fencing and
to the method or mode of securing thereto the horizontal bars or wires and it has
for its object whilst conserving the strength and rigidity of the fence to make it
lighter and cheaper to construct.
Under the invention the standards and droppers are made of a hollow and
incomplete tubular section. The fastening for the wire or bar has also preferably
a tubular part which passes within the tubular portion of the standard or dropper.
and it has a projection or tail piece extending beyond and through the slot of the
tubular standard or dropper, the wire or bar passing through or being secured to
the said tail piece. To stiffen the fastener a flat bar may be inserted into it.
.Instead of being so constructed the fastener may consist of a clip, wedge, staple,
ring, screw, bolt and nut or a combination of two or more of these, the novel and
essential feature being that the fastener is held within and projects from a hollow
standard or dropper in which it is free to move up or down through the slot to
adapt itself to different spacing of the horizontal. bars or wires. When adjusted to
the requisite position the fastener is preferably retained by indenting the edges of
the slot but other equivalent means for fixing it may be adopted.
The standards may be strengthened below and a little above the ground level by
inserting into them a bar or tube of metal to fill up the hollow and they may be
furnished with ornamental or other tops.
The mode of holding and fastening herein before described besides being adapted
to fencing is also applicable to other purposes.
;
:

page_text: and other like Purposes.
I, WILLIAM ORR of 45 West Nile Street Glasgow in the County of Lanark,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
This invention relates to the standards and droppers of metal fencing and to the
method or mode of securing thereto the horizontal wires of bars and it has for its-
object whilst conserving the strength and rigidity of the fence, to make it lighter
and cheaper to construct.
As shown by the several figures on the sheet of drawings hereunto annexed the
vertical standards and droppers of the fence are made hollow or tubular but of an
incomplete section, that is to say, in drawing or otherwise manufacturing the tube
it is made with a slot a, running or extending from end to end or through a
portion of its length. The standards and droppers are so made in order that the
fastener or holder for the horizontal wires or bars of the fence may be placed or
held within and project from the hollow of the tube through the slot in which the
fastener or holder is free to be moved up or down to adapt it to the spacings
between the bars or wires.
With this construction of standards and droppers many different forms of
fasteners or holders for the wires or bars may be adopted and it is to be under-.
stood that although I have on the appended drawings shown several modes by
which such fastening or holding may be effected these are merely given as
illustrations and that I do not confine or restrict myself to them.
In the arrangement shown in front elevation at figure 1, in vertical section at
figure 2, in plan at figure 3 and in detail at figures 4 and 5, the fastener consists
of a hollow holder. made with a bulb or tubular part b, from which two jaws or
tail pieces 61 project. The external diameter of the tubular part is equal to or
slightly less than the internal diameter of the standard or dropper the said part
being slipped into the standard or dropper from its upper end and the breadth of
the jaws or tail pieces b', is equal to or less than the breadth of the slot a, in the
standard through which the said tail pieces project outwards as indicated. In the
recess e between the jaws or tail pieces the horizontal fence wire or bar d is laid
and it is held in position in the recess by a key, wedge or clip which may be com-
posed of a straight bar or pin passed vertically down through the hollow parts of
the jaw 61, in front of the wire or bar d, or it may be made as more particularly
seen at c figure 5, of a breadth sufficient to extend across the space between the
inner surface at the back of the standard and the inner side of the jaws b¹. This
clip or wedge c, is entered into position through the slot a, in the standard or
dropper and it has a recess of formed in it into which, in pushing the wedge down,

page_text: the wire or bar enters from the lower end. The front side or wall or the recess
being tapered the farther the wedge is driven down the firmer the wire or bar is
gripped or held. The wedge c may be conveniently punched from a strip of sheet
metal and the fastener may be formed by punching or cutting out from the centre
of a piece of sheet metal a portion to constitute the space between the jaws b¹ the
metal being thereafter bent or creased into the required form leaving a space
between the edges as indicated at g figure 3 for the downward passage of the
wedge c. With this form of fastener the edges of the slot a in the standard or
dropper are indented as indicated at h figure 2, at distances apart equal to the
desired distances between the wires which has the effect of maintaining the wire
and fastener in position.
;
Figure 6 illustrates in front elevation, figure 7 in side elevation and figure 8.in
plan another and simple form of fastener which may be adopted and which consists
of a wedge or key i of rail, H, or like section. With this arrangement slots j, are
cut in the standard or dropper transversely to the slot α, the wires or bars being
entered into the slots j,.and maintained in position by slipping or driving the-
wedges i, in front of the wires the face of the wedge bearing on the wire or bar
being preferably tapered.
Figures 9, 10, and 11, illustrate in front elevation, in side elevation and in plan
respectively, another form of fastener which consists of a bolt k, the head of which
is within the hollow of the standard or dropper whilst the shank or stem projects
out through the slot a. Over the bolt a washer or plate l, having its inner side or
face recessed for the reception of the wire or bar, is placed and a nut m, is then
screwed on so as to cause the edges of the washer or plate to bite into or indent
the standard or dropper above and below the wire and so maintain it and its
fastener in proper position or the standard may be indented as at figure 2.
Figures 12 and 13 show the wire held in position by means of a simple staple n,
which passes both through the slot a and through holes made in the standard or
dropper opposite the slot, the points of the staple projecting out through the holes
being bent and clenched as indicated.
Figures 14 and 15 illustrate another form of staple consisting of a solid part or
palm o, of diameter equal or nearly equal to the internal diameter of the standard
or dropper. From the palm a hook extends outwards through the slot a, in which
the wire rests or is caught, the hook being clenched over it. In this case also the
standard or dropper is indented below the fastener to maintain the wires at the
requisite distances apart.
In erecting the fence the standards may be stiffened below and a little above
the ground line by inserting into each of them a bar to fill up the hollow of the
tube and they as well as the droppers may have ornamented or other tops screwed
or otherwise secured to them and the stays of the standards may also be made
tubular and secured to the post by fasteners such as hereinbefore described with
reference to figures 1 to 11 of the annexed drawings. Figure 16 illustrates in
vertical section and figure 17 in horizontal section the stay x, secured to the
standard by the form of fastener shown at figures 6, 7 and 8. When thrust plates
are used any of the forms of fastener herein before described may be adopted to
secure them to the standards. Figure 18 shows in front elevation and figure 19
in longitudinal section the mode of securing a thrust plate to a standard by means
of the fastener illustrated at figures 6, 7, and 8 the thrust plate having recesses or
notches cut in its upper and under sides at y to receive the web of the fastener or
the thrust plate may be made with a bulb or like headed projection on its inner
side by which to hold it in position in the slot a.
The construction of standard or post and the modes of holding and fastening
herein before described besides being adapted to fencing is also applicable to other
purposes for example it may be employed in poles for telegraph and telephone
wires in which case the bar d constitutes the arm for carrying the insulators for
the wires.

page_text: .
Having now, particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said.
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. In metal fencing, standards and droppers composed of tubes of incomplete
section or having a slot extending throughout the whole or a portion of the length,
the wires or bars and stays or thrust plates being held by fasteners passing out
through the slot from within the tube, substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated under several examples on the appended drawings.
2. In metal fencing the several holders or fasteners, hereinbefore described with
reference to the drawings annexed, for the wires. or bars, when such fasteners are
used with standards or droppers constructed as set forth.
3. For telegraphic and telephonic purposes posts and fasteners for the arms
carrying the wires constructed substantially as herein before described.
Dated this Fourteenth day of April 1886.
GEO. M. CRUIKSHANK,
+
Agent.
"