IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE FENCES
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Franz Carl Guilleaume, of the Firm of Felten and
Guilleaume, Cologne, Rhenish Prussia, Germany, Manufacturer, for an
"
Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE FENCES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Franz Carl Guilleaume at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 22nd October 1881.
FRANZ CARL GUILLEAUME, of the Firm of Felten and Guilleaume, Cologne,
Rhenish Prussia, Germany, Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE FENCES."
My Invention relates to improvements in wire fences, and more particularly, in
the first place, to the method of closing and securing the entrance openings of wire
fences, whether they consist of a single wire or a series of wires, and in the second
place my Invention relates to a simple and effective arrangement for attaching the
fence wires to the iron standards. In carrying out my Invention in the method of
closing the entrance openings of fences I attach the ends of the line wires to a
vertical and portable spindle, the lower end of which I make taper or pointed for
the double purpose of readily inserting it in its bearing, and also that it may be
easily forced into the ground when the entrance is required to be left open. The
upper end of the spindle is provided with a ratchet wheel and the top of the
spindle may be squared, so that a screw key or other lever may be employed to
rotate the spindle for the purpose of coiling the wire round it..
The permanent standard, to which the wire gate is to be temporally secured, is
provided with an eye bolt to receive and act as a bearing for the point of the
portable spindle before mentioned, and at its upper end with a hook, in which the
top of the spindle engages; a ratchet pawl or catch is fixed to the hook which
engages with the teeth of the ratchet wheel, so that when the spindle is turned
round by the lever it cannot turn back until the pawl or catch is taken out of
gear. Provision is made to lock or otherwise secure the pawl or catch to prevent
it being tampered with. In carrying out the second part of my Invention, or the
method of attaching the line wires to the standards, which I prefer to make of
angle iron, but which may be of any other suitable section of flanged iron, I form
holes through the angle of the standard at suitable distances by punching, drilling,
or other known means; I then take a split cottar pin and pass it over the line
wire; the shanks are then put through the hole in the standard, bent back, and
flattened down,

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Franz Carl Guilleaume in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th April 1882.
FRANZ CARL GUILLEAUME, of the Firm of Felten & Guilleaume, Cologne,
Rhenish Prussia, Germany, Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE FENCES."
The said Invention relates in the first place to the method of closing and
securing the entrance openings of wire fences, whether they consist of a single
wire or of a series of wires, and in the second place my said Invention relates to a
simple and effective arrangement for attaching and securing the fence wires to the
iron standards.
In carrying out the first part of my Invention, being the method of closing and
securing the entrance openings of wire fences, I attach the ends of the line wires
to a portable vertical spindle, the lower end of which I mak taper or pointed for
the twofold purpose of being readily able to insert it in its bearing, and also that
it may easily be forced into the ground when the entrance is required to be left
open.
The upper end of the spindle is provided with a ratchet wheel, and the portion
projecting through the ratchet wheel is squared, so that a screw key or other lever
may be employed, so as to obtain sufficient power to rotate or turn the spindle, for
the purpose of coiling the wire or wires round it.
The permanent or fixed standard, to which the wire gate is to be secured when
closed, is provided near the bottom with an eyebolt to receive the pointed end of
the beforementioned spindle, and to act as a bearing for it to be rotated in when
tightening up the gate, and at its upper end with a hook which engages round the
spindle close under the ratchet wheel.
A ratchet pawl or catch is so fitted to the hook that it engages with the teeth of
the ratchet wheel, thus allowing the spindle to be turned round in one direction,
but not in the contrary direction till the pawl or catch is taken out of gear with
the teeth of the wheel.
A simple means of securing the gate, and thus prevent it being opened without
permission, is to have corresponding holes formed in the hook, and the pawl or
catch, through which the catch of a padlock may be passed, or some other equivalent
device, may be used.
Thus when the wire gate is opened the spindle may be thrust into the ground
in a convenient position to keep the relaxed wires out of the way of cattle, &c.; and
on the other hand, when the wire gate is closed it can be tightened to the requisite
degree by means of the apparatus hereinbefore described.
The second part of my Invention, or that of attaching the line wires to the
standard, which I prefer to be of angle iron, but which may be made of any other
suitable section of flanged iron, is carried into effect as follows:-I form in the
standard (which (for example) I will describe as angle iron) suitable holes through
the angle of the iron by punching or other means,
I then take a split cotter pin and pass it over the line wire, put the shanks of
the pin through the hole in the standard, and bend them back.
And that my Invention may be more fully understood I will now refer to the
annexed Sheet of Drawings, and here remark that the same letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Fig. 1 represents a four-line-wire-fence-opening when closed.
Fig. 2 represents the same open with the spindle thrust into the ground.
Fig. 3 is an enlarged top view of the ratchet arrangement.

page_text: A and A¹ are the gate posts and may be made of angle iron, T, I, or
U iron.
The post A is provided with suitable eyebolts or their equivalents, which may
be rivetted or screwed to the post, and may be adjustable so as to compensate for
any difference in the length of the wires. Post A¹ carries the eyebolt a and the
hook 6 to support the spindle d, to which the gate wires are attached by suitable
eyebolts, as before described; e is the ratchet wheel; o, the pawl or catch; f, the
screw key or lever; p, the padlock securing the catch to the hook.
Figures 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate the improved method of attaching the line
wires to an angle iron standard; Figures 4 and 5 are back and front views of the
standard, showing the wires attached and secured by split cotter pins, which
are shown bent back at h; Fig. 6 is a sectional side view of a standard of angle
iron, showing a split cotter pin h gripping the line wires and the ends passed
through the hole in the standard.
Fig. 7 shows the cotter pin with the ends or shanks bent back and flattened
down.
Having now described and fully ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which it may be carried into effect, I wish to observe that I do
not confine myself to the precise details as herein described and illustrated, but
what I do consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The method of stretching or tightening a number of wires forming a wire
gate for fencing by means of a revolving spindle, substantially as hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the annexed Sheet of Drawings.
Second. The use of split cotter pins in attaching fencing wire to standards
of angle iron, or other suitable flanged iron, substantially as described and
illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Franz Carl Guilleaume, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 22nd day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
FRANZ CARL GUILLEAUME. (L.S.)