Improvements in Means for Securing Fencing Posts.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Sept., 1897-Accepted, 6th Nov., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Securing Fencing Posts.
I, HERBERT GORDON THOMSON, of 271 Broadway, New York, United States of
America, Gentleman, 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:-
My invention relates to that class of anchors or means for securing fence and
other posts in which the post, driven into the ground, is provided with a fixed
collar or base at or near the surface of the ground, through which base stakes
are driven at an inclination to the post into the ground, and are fixed in the base
so as to hold the post firmly upright.
Among the objects of my invention are to simplify, cheapen and improve the
inclined stakes and the means of driving them through and fastening them to
the base, and to simplify, cheapen and improve the means for securing the base
to the post.
I attain these and other ends by my invention, which consists firstly, of a post-
anchor base having differently inclined flat guide sockets on its sides through
which the stakes are driven into the ground so as to firmly support the post;
secondly, of post-sockets on such post-anchor base of a form suited to the form
of the post, whether T-shaped, cylindrical or otherwise; thirdly, of novel means
for holding the stakes down in the guide-sockets; fourthly, of novel means for
fixing a T-shaped post in the T-shaped post socket of the anchor base; and
fifthly, of post anchor stakes made of flanged metal as iron.
In order that my invention may be fully ascertained, I shall describe in detail
the mode in which I carry my invention into effect, and then point out its several
features in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
specification, in which like parts are indicated by the same letters in all the figures.
Figure 1, represents in side elevation an anchored fence post embodying my
invention.
Figure 2, is a sectional plan view of the same.
Figure 3, is a cross-sectional elevation of the same on the line 3-3, Figure 2.
Figure 4, represents a modification of my invention.
In the practice of my invention I form the upright post A itself by preference
of some common commercial form of iron, for instance, iron piping, as shown
in Figure 4, or as shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, of T-iron.
In the form of my invention shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3, I fix on the post A
an anchor base B, some distance from its lower end, the post being driven vertically
into the ground until the base B is at or near the surface.
I form the base B, by preference of malleable cast iron, with a central vertical
socket C, in this instance flat to receive the head A¹ of the T-iron post A, and
split to admit the web A2 of the T-iron post A.
To securely fix the base B to the post A thus passed through the socket C, I
prefer to form a recess D on the inside of the closed wider wall of the socket C,
and by means of a split punch E, indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2, straddling
the web A³ of the post A and resting against the head A¹ of the post on opposite
sides of the web A³, forcibly drive and upset the head A¹ into the recess D, thus
rigidly locking the base to the post in a simple and convenient manner.

page_text: For guiding and driving the inclined stakes F into the ground on opposite
sides of the post A to support the same I form preferably by casting, on opposite
sides of, in this instance, the wider dimensions of the socket C, flat tubular socket
guides F, the planes of whose wider dimensions are parallel with the plane of
the axis of the vertical socket C, but whose axes are inclined downward in opposite
directions at an angle of preferably 45° from the axis of the post A, so that the
ends of one guide F lie in the respective planes of the narrower sides of the
other socket F, an especially strong construction thus being secured.
Through the inclined guides F, I drive at like inclinations into the ground,
straight stakes G, preferably sharpened at their lower ends, and having heads Gi
on their upper ends, until the heads Gabut against the upper ends of the
respective guides F, and I then fix the stakes G securely in said guides, and thus
to the base B and post G¹ preferably by bending, over the heads of the stakes,
lugs H previously cast on the outside of the upper ends of the respective guides F,
so as to hold the stakes firmly in place, and thus rigidly hold the post erect.
To keep the stakes G, from working loose in the ground and thus make a more
perfect anchorage for the post, I have discovered that by forming the stakes of
plate metal as iron, and with straight parallel flanges G along the opposite edges
of the wider dimension thereof as shown, the flanges G act as wings against the
ground to effectually prevent the stakes and thus the post from shifting in any
direction in the earth, and at the same time the stakes can be made, driven through
the stake guides and into the ground and fixed in the guides much more readily
and cheaply than heretofore.
In the form of my invention shown in Figure 4, the post is made of ordinary
iron piping a, and the base is formed with a cylindrical vertical socket c, through
which the post a is passed. The base b is fixed securely to the post by means of
a key wedged in a groove in the base against the post. The base is formed
with socket guides f for the stakes g like the base B, shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3.
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. The post-anchor base having the differently inclined guide-sockets through
which the stakes are driven into the ground, substantially as described.
2. The post-anchor base having the T-shaped socket for aT-shaped post, and the
inclined guide-sockets for the ground stakes, substantially as described.
3. The post-anchor base having the cylindrical socket for a pipe-post and the
inclined guide-sockets for the ground stakes substantially as described.
4. The post-anchor base having the inclined guide-sockets for the ground stakes
and the lugs on said guide-sockets bent over the heads of the stakes in the guide-
sockets, substantially as described.
5. The post-anchor base having the T-shaped post-socket formed with a recess
into which the head of the T-shaped post is driven to secure the base to the
post, substantially as described.
6. The post-anchor stakes made of flanged iron or metal, substantially as
described.
1007
HERBERT GORDON THOMSON.
Boult & Wade,
Agents for the Applicant.