IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FENCES
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Nineteenth day of June, in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Edward Newton, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors, admors, and assigns,
and such others as I, the said William Edward Newton, my exors, admors,'
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Planta-
tions abroad, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and
Man, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FENCES," being
a communication from abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, obliging me, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being the e-
unto had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Edward Newton, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, is par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters!
and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of improvements in the construction of fences relates to an
improved method of constructing metallic fences for parks, pleasure grounds,
and other similar places where a strong, light, neat, and inexpensive fence is
required. In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn various plans of
carrying out the improvements. Fig. 1 represents an elevation of part of a
metallic fence, constructed on the improved plan; the posts, which may be
made of flat bar iron, are shewn at A, A, A, A. Fig. 4 represents a side
view of one of these posts, having any suitable number of T-shaped mortises B;
either end of these mortises may be placed uppermost, as seen at Figures 3
and 4; or the mortises may be made straight, as seen at B (Figures 7 and 8).
The horizontal rails C. may be made of round bar iron or wire, as seen in
Fig. 2, or partly round and partly. square, as seen at Figures 7 and 8, where.
C represents the round part, and E the square part; or if preferred, they
may be made square their entire length. These rails have loops or eyes
D, turned or formed at both ends, as in either of the plans seen in
Figures 2, 7, and 8; and when the rails are to be inserted in the holes
or mortices B of the posts A, they are held in the position indicated in the
Drawings, and slipped through the holes far enough to escape the return end
of the rail (Fig. 2), or up to the round part of the rails (Figures 7 and 8),
and then turned half round and drawn back, which will bring them into
positions as seen at Figures 3 and 5 or Figures 7 and 8, and in which
positions the rails cannot be turned for the purpose of drawing them out again;
for (as seen in Fig. 3) the loops fill up the entire space and the shoulders in the
mortises will not. admit of their being turned round; or (in the forms repre-
sented at Figures 7 and 8) the square part of the rail is made to so fill up the
mortise. as to prevent it from being turned, and in either case they could not
be withdrawn until slipped back and turned half round. To prevent this being
done I sometimes bend out the end of the loop D after it is in place in the
holes or mortices of the post, as seen at Fig. 6. By this means a similar loop
being made on the other side of the post will entirely prevent the rails from
moving either way. In the form of rail represented at Fig. 7 the loop could
be bent out and the rail removed, but as shewn at Figures 2 and 8, the end of
the loop passes through the post hole or mortice B; and is thereby entirely

page_text: secured.. By this means I am enabled to make a perfectly rigid and strong
fence of iron at less cost than has heretofore been produced, using but a single
post, without wedges, keys, bolts, or any other fastening than that which is
effected by the shape of the post holes and the rails alone. At suitable dis-
tances in the line of the fence, say at about every one hundred yards, more or
less, thereof, I place screw buckles F for the letting out and straining up of the
fence to compensate for the expansion and contraction of the metal if found
necessary; but I would state also that it has been found by experiment that
the elasticity of the loop upon which the horizontal strain alone comes is of
itself almost, if not entirely, sufficient to compensate for such expansion and
contraction. The screw buckle is, however, of essential service in putting up
or repairing the fence, for by the use of it so much care need not be taken in
placing the posts in exact position, as they may slightly radiate from a common
centre, and by means of the screw buckles, when a regular number of panels
or "bays" are set, each side of them may be drawn up into a perpendicular
position, and at the same time all the slack in setting the fence will be
tightened up. The screw buckles may be cheaply made of gas or other
wrought-iron. pipes cut into suitable lengths, and should have small holes
drilled therein to receive a pin for turning them round.
may all be prepared by machinery, and may be made of
length, and from their. plain shape may be packed up
handling and transportation, and can be set up by any one the least skilled in
fence-making. The posts are usually set about sixteen inches in the ground,
and ordinarily require no additional support except in very soft ground, where
a wedge may be driven on both sides of it, or it may be rammed with gravel
or stone. The surface presented to the wind is so very slight as not to
endanger its being blown over.
The posts and rails
any suitable size or
in: faggots for easy
Figures 9, 10, 11, and 12, represent a modification of the above plan, where
the posts A' are made of two pieces of flat bar iron of suitable size, having
their bottom ends bent round, as shewn in the side view, Fig. 11, so that the
broadest part of the bar shall enter the ground and stand parallel with the
fence; and be opposed to any force which may come against either side of
the fence, as seen in Fig. 12. The slots or holes a in the two pieces (Fig. 1.1),
which when put together form the fence, are so formed that the rounded or
enlarged parts thereof shall be at the top of the slot in one of the pieces, and
at the bottom of the slot in the other piece, the upper one for holding the
upper rail and the lower rail for holding the other, as seen in. Fig. 12. The
rounded part of the slots are bevelled from the faces of the posts so as to take
in a portion of the loop upon the rail, and which when drawn into the post
;

page_text: holes, together with a similar loop on the rail immediately below it, and passing
through the post from the opposite side serves as a key or wedge for holding
the
posts firmly together. A small screw bolt or clamp may be used to hold
.the panels together whilst putting them up, but when the bent ends of the
posts are driven into the ground, as shewn in the several Figures, it will
remain perfectly rigid, the rails and posts tending to hold each other together.
When the loops are to be passed through the slots the tops of the two pieces
which form the post will not be flush with each other, but one above the
other, but when they are driven into the ground so as to be flush or on the
same level with each other, the slots which "break joint" will so have closed
the spaces or holes in each other as to only hold the rails, as seen in Fig. 12,
and the rails cannot be removed without first drawing the post' out of the ground
and moving it sufficiently far to allow the flat parts of the loop to run past
each other, so that they can be turned half round to bring them in line with
the slots.
Having thus fully described. the Invention which has been communi-
cated to me by my foreign correspondent, what I claim, as new, and desire to
secure by Letters Patent, in the construction of fences, is so making or forming
, the holes in the posts, which are made of either one, two, or more pieces, and
also so making the loop or 'bend upon the ends of the rails, as that when inserted
in the holes or mortices of the post, the posts and rails will form their own
fastenings, and will be held securely together without the use of keys, bolts,
rivets, wedges, or any fastening other than that afforded by the peculiar shape
of the holes and loops aforesaid.
:
I also claim constructing the ends of the rails with loops or other analogous
contrivances for taking the horizontal strain of the fence caused by the con-
traction of the metal or otherwise upon the loop or bent portion of the rails
instead of upon the end of the rails, for the purpose of allowing for the contrac-
tion of the metal caused by alterations in temperature without the liability of
.breaking or otherwise deranging the fence..
I also claim, in combination with the fence, constructed substantially as
herein described, the use of the screw buckle for taking or letting out: of the
rails and for drawing up to an uniform tension and position the rails and
posts whilst constructing or setting up the fence, as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.
W. E. (L.S.) NEWTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Eighteenth day of December, in
the year of our Lord 1852, the aforesaid William Edward Newton came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Eighteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.