s Patent Titan Wire Strainer
Year: 1886

page_text: I, JOHN REID, of Dunedin, in the Provincial District of Otago, in the Colony of
New Zealand, Solicitor, 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 which is intended to be known as "Reid's Patent Titan Wire
Strainer" is based upon the principle of a former invention for which I obtained
British Letters Patent dated the thirty-first day of August one thousand eight
hundred and eighty-five and Numbered 10286. In that case however the machine
was permanently attached to the wire but in the present instance the machine, is
not permanently attached to the wire but is removed imminediately it has finished
its work. The former machine consists of a reel carried by a frame and having
ratchet-teeth formed on its flanges acted upon when straining by a suitable
detachable lever, the strain being retained by a pin which fits into the ratchet-
teeth and acts as a retaining pawl. The present invention retains the principle of
the reel with its ratchet-teeth and retaining-pawl pin but otherwise it differs
materially from the former invention. It is designed specially for mending
broken wire fences as it can be used either at or between the straining posts and
is furnished with devices for retaining the strain while the ends of the wires are
being secured. And further, it is so constructed that when used at or away from
the post the surplus wire can be unwound from the reel by pulling outwards the
hand-lever between the jaws of which the reel is now permanently secured and
which with its reel can be taken from its bearing in the frame of the machine to
allow of such unwinding.
Referring to the attached drawings,―
Figure 1 shews a plan of the improved wire-straining machine looking down
upon it, and
Figure 2 a side elevation.
Figure 3 a longitudinal sectional elevation on the centre line a, a, in
Figure 1, and
Figure a plan of its under-side.
Figure 5 shews an end elevation of the reel end, and
Figure 6 an end elevation of the gripper end. In both these figures the hand-
lever is removed for the sake of clearness.
Figure 7 is a plan of the hand-lever with its attached reel.
A is the body of the machine made preferably of malleable cast-iron and having
the cheeks A' to support the reel B and the arms A² and the lower jaws A³ to bear
against the posts. In a slot formed in one of the latter jaws is centred the cam-
gripper C, which compresses the wire between it and the opposite jaw. The reel
or windlass B which is also by preference made of malleable cast-iron, has the
ratchet-toothed flanges B¹ formed on it and the projecting pintles B³ which fit
within the open-ended bearings A' formed in said cheeks A. B³ is the hole in the
reel to receive the end of the wire which is to be strained. D is the bifurcated

page_text: hand-lever having the slot holes D' formed in its cheeks to receive the pintles of
the reel which is permanently secured within said bifurcated end of the lever.
D² is the cross-pin to engage with the ratchet-teeth B¹. A' is the retaining pin
secured by its ring ends within the curved slot-holes Aº in the cheeks A¹. A is a
flat spring acting upon said retaining pin and secured to the bottom of the body
by the rivet As, which also secures the flat spring A in position. This spring A® is
turned downwards and has the slot-hole A10 in it to catch one of the wires E that
are being strained. A" is a hook or finger projecting from the bottom of the
body A to receive the loop at end of said wire E, and this hook-finger has a
recess A¹ formed at its end and continued through the bottom of the body to
allow the other wire E¹ to be threaded through it and passed on to the real on
which it is to be wound.
The mode of operation is as follows:-To strain two wires which are to be
secured together at any position between the posts I first make a loop on the
wire E large enough to pass it over the hook A" at the bottom of the strainer and
place it within the catch A10. I then thread the other wire E¹ through the loop
at the end of the wire E and pass its end into the hole in the reel B which may
now be wound up by means of the hand-lever D so as to strain the wires. When
this is done sufficiently the cam-gripper C is placed in position to grip the wire,
thus they are held strained and the retaining pin A is forced into the lower
portion of its slots A clear of the ratchet flanges B¹. The reel may be drawn from
its bearing by pulling outwards the hand-lever D so as to uncoil the wire, which is
then wound upon itself so as to form a loop enclosing the loop of the other wire
and thus binding the wires together. The cum-gripper C is now released and the
inachine is taken from the wires. In mending or re-uniting broken wires this
operation is repeated except that in some cases it will be necessary to join a piece
of wire to one of the ends to give sufficient length. To strain a wire at a post, the
end with the arms A' and gripper C is placed against the post and the wire passed
into the hole in the reel B, which is then wound by the aid of the lever D.
the wire has been sufficiently strained, the cam-gripper C is caused to grip and
retain the strain upon the wire and the lever and reel are pulled outwards to
unwind the surplus wire; the body of the machine is then tilted so as to allow a
wedge to be driven into the hole in order to retain the wire, after which the
machine is released and the wire secured in the usual manner.
When
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 body of the wire-straining machine, composed of the parts marked by the
letters A to A, A, A" and A", in combination with its attached retaining pin A³,
its cam-gripper C, and the springs A7 and Aº, substantially as and for the purposes
herein described and explained and as illustrated in the drawings.
2. The reel B having the ratchet flanges B₁ formed on it, in combination with
the bifurcated hand-lever marked by the letters D to D2 permanently attached to
said reel, substantially as and for the purposes herein described and explained and
as illustrated in the drawings.
3. The combination of the body A and its appurtenant parts with said combined
reel and lever substantially as herein described and explained and as illustrated in
the drawings.