IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING WIRE FENCES AND IN APPARATUS USED THEREIN
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Head, of the Firm of Ransomes and Sims,
of Ipswich, in the County of Suffolk, Engineers, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING WIRE FENCES AND IN APPARATUS
USED THEREIN." -A communication from abroad by William
Archibald Murray, of Waitahuna, Otago, New Zealand.
Scaled the 12th March 1869, and dated the 17th September 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Head at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th September 1868.
I, JOHN HEAD, of the Firm of Ransomes and Sims, of Ipswich, in
the County of Suffolk, Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING WIRE FENCES AND IN
AFPARATUS USED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
Heretofore in constructing wire fences the wire of the fence have
been strained by apparatus fixed to or carried by some of the posts
or supports of the fence According to this Invention I strain the
wires of wire fences by apparatus applied to the wires themselves

page_text: at points intermediate of the posts or supports, so that the straining
apparatus and the posts are independent one of the other.
The apparatus I employ for this purpose is composed of a rectangular
frame, in the centre of which is carried a small windlass barrel,
through which a small slit is formed for the wire to be passed through;
one end of the windlass barrel is made square so that the barrel
may be turned with a suitable key, whilst on the opposite end is a
disc through a hole in which and through a hole in the frame a
pin may be passed to lock the barrel from turning; or in place of this
the barrel may be locked from turning by a pawl and ratchet wheel
or by a key or other suitable means. Through the two opposite ends of
the frame slits or holes are formed for the wire or strand to pass
through. In erecting a fence, if the wire is in one length, it should
be passed through the straining apparatus to about half its length; if
it is not all in one piece select the break in it which is nearest equi-
distant between the straining posts and pass the wires through the holes
or slits in the ends of the frame and through the barrel; or if the work-
man wishes he may fix one end of wire to the frame of the straining
apparatus and pass the end of the other wire through one end of the
frame and through the barrel, then the wire or wires being secured at
their opposite ends to straining posts or anchors the barrel is turned
until the wire is sufficiently strained; the barrel is then locked to
prevent it turning back. Each of the wires of the fence is thus
strained separately.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Head in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th March 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HEAD, of the Firm of Ransomes and Sims, of Ipswich, in the County
of Suffolk, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of September in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Head, Her
special licence that I, the said John Head, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Head,
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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING WIRE FENCES AND IN APPARATUS USED
THEREIN, ," a communication to me from abroad by William Archibald
Murray, of Waitahuna, Otago, New Zealand, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Head, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Head, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to an apparatus for tightening up the wires
or strands of a wire fence. The wires are strained by applying the
apparatus to the wires themselves at points intermediate between the.
posts or supports on which the wires are carried so that the apparatus
is entirely independent of the posts and may be applied at any part of
a continuous length of wire.
The apparatus employed for this purpose consists of a single cylinder
or windlass barrel having a small slot in it through which the wire.
is passed. It is preferred that this cylinder should be carried by and
turn in a rectangular frame, one end of the cylinder being made square
so that it may be turned round with a suitable key or lever handle,
whilst the other end carries a disc fixed to it having holes at intervals
near its circumference. The wire passes through holes or slots made in
the opposite ends of the frame as well as through the slot in the cylinder.
When the handle is turned the wire winds on the cylinder and sufficient
tension having been thus obtained a pin is passed through one of the.

page_text: holes in the disc into a corresponding hole in the frame so as to lock the
cylinder. Instead of a pin to lock the cylinder as above described
a pawl and ratchet wheel may be used or a key or other suitable
means.
And in order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily t
carried into effect I have in the Drawings hereunto annexed shown
the above-described form in which it is preferred to construct the
annaratus
Figure 1 shows a plan of one form of apparatus in which A is the
cylinder or barrel; B, the lever handle fitting on to the square end of
the cylinder; O is the disc fixed on to its other end; D, the rectangular
framework having holes F, F, at its opposite ends through which
the strand or wiro E passes; G is the pin passing through one of the
holes in the disc O into a hole in the framework D, thus locking the
cylinder A.
Figure 2 shews a plan of the other form of apparatus in which the
cylinder is locked by the lever pawl G working on to the ratchet
wheel C, and is secured by a pin H passed through a hole through its
end and also a hole in the framework. In place of the rectangular
frame two discs may be attached to the cylinder, one at either end (or
these discs may be cast on in one picce with the cylinder). These discs
have corresponding holes near their circumference through which a
pin may be passed. When the wire has been sufficiently wound on to
the cylinder between the two discs a pin is passed through a hole in
one disc under or over the wire, as the case may be, and into the
corresponding hole in the other disc, thus preventing the cylinder from
turning. In erecting a fence, if the wire is in one length it should be
passed through the straining apparatus to about half its length, if it is
not all in one piece select the break in it which is nearest equidistant
between the straining posts, and pass the wires through the holes or
slits in the end of the frame and through the barrel; or if the workman
wishes he may fix one end of the wire to the frame of the straining
apparatus and pass the end of the other wire through one end of the
frame and through the barrel, then the wire or wires being secured at
their opposite end to straining posts or anchors the barrel is turned
until the wire is sufficiently strained; the barrel is then locked to

page_text: prevent it turning back. Each of the wires of the fence is thus strained
separately.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the method
of carrying it into effect, I would have it understood that what I claim
is,―
First. Constructing wire fences with the wires tightened by apparatus
such as herein described applied to the wires at points intermediate to
the posts.
Second. Constructing apparatus for tightening the wires of wire fences
with a single cylinder through which the wire passes, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Head, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witness,
ARTHUR THOMAS COLE,
Ipswich,
Accountant.
JOHN HEAD. (L.S.)