IMPROVE- MENTS IN METAL FENCING
Year: 1885

page_text: I FREDERICK WILLIAM BOMPAS of East London in the Colony of the Cape of
Good Hope Merchant do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN METAL FENCING and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists of two plates of Steel of 14 inch wide and 1 of an inch
in thickness or thereabouts or of requisite strength in Steel or Iron and of suitable
length as Standards to be used for Wire Fencing.
These plates are then each cut at certain intervals (according to the number and
sizes of Wires to be used) with an opening or half slot forming a semicircle at the
inner end the size of the diameter of the Wire to be used but the opening widening
gradually towards the outside of the plate.
The plates are then laid one over the other with the half slots or openings
towards each other and rivetted at the top end but with sufficient play to allow
the two pieces to open and close without difficulty in fact so as to form a hinge as
in Fig 1.
The half slots will be opposite to each other and when the pair of plates are
closed the intersection of the half slots or openings will form a circular hole of the
size of the Wire required as in Fig 2.
The lower extremities of the Standards to be pointed and with a bolt hole below
the bottom wire with a loose foot piece of flat iron of 2 inches wide by half an
inch thick or thereabouts and 4 feet 6 inches long with the ends pointed and bent
down at right angles at 18" from the end and an opening to be made in the centre
of the foot piece lengthways say 11" by inch to admit of the passage of the
Standard through it into the ground as in Figures 3 and 4.
In the foregoing it must be understood that the actual dimensions are dependent
upon practical investigation as also the employment of Iron or Steel. Also that
the lengths of the Standards is variable according to the purpose for which fencing
is required and other dimensions may be increased or diminished as necessity
requires.
The principle of the Standards as before described and shewn in Figures 1 and 2
can be adapted with two plates of requisite strength and thickness so as to render
it applicable as a dropper to impart rigidity to wire fencing by preventing cattle
or other stock from pushing the wires apart as is the case when fencing is slack
and particularly to minimise the number of standards required which are a great
item of expense.

page_text: •
When the plates are used as a dropper as above described the foot piece as
described with reference to the Standards as shewn in Figs 3 and 4 is to be
dispensed with and after the wires are enclosed the two plates of the dropper are
fixed below the bottom hole by a square headed bolt and nut as shewn in Fig 5-
The bolt hole cut through both the plates to be of an oval form as in Fig 6 of
diagram.
The advantages of this Invention as applied to fencing are as follows
The saving of time and labor in the erection of standards and in adjusting the
droppers to the wires which can be done with great ease.
.
The quickness with which the droppers can be applied and their lightness
combined with rigidity offering the least possible resistance to the wind as against
the fencing.
The extreme cheapness of both the Standards and Droppers, and their stability.
A twofold advantage of the Droppers is that they can be closed on the wires
after they are strained, or if the fencing is in course of erection the wires can be
threaded through where required by closing and bolting the droppers first.
By the arrangement by which the droppers can be opened or closed on the wires
they can be applied to barbed wire fencing and by the same arrangement all
extraneous fastening but one simple bolt and nut to each Dropper is dispensed
with.
An advantage of the Standards is that they can either be used as ordinary
Standards where required in erecting new fences and the wires threaded through
the openings or can be adapted to wire fencing already erected whether barbed or
otherwise.
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
.
(i) The application of the Twin principle for Standards and Droppers.
(ii) The mode of adjusting the wires with special openings or half slots.
(iii) The simple mode of locking the Droppers by a bolt at the bottom.
(iv) The mode of fixing the Standards by means of the loose feet.