IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC HURDLES, GATES, AND WIRE AND OTHER FENCING; AND IN CONNECTING WIRE FOR FENCING, AND FOR VARIOUS OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Skerrett at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 19th November 1880.
HENRY SKERRETT, of 6, Whitby Road, Sparkbrook, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC HURDLES,
GATES, AND WIRE AND OTHER FENCING; AND IN CONNECTING WIRE FOR FENCING,
AND FOR VARIOUS OTHER PURPOSES."
In the ordinary method of constructing metallic hurdles, the horizontal bars or
rods of iron are connected at their ends to the uprights or standards by rivetting
or by cottering.
My Invention consists principally in connecting or affixing the horizontal bars,
rods, or tubes of metallic hurdles to the uprights or standards without rivetting or
cottering, as hereinafter described.
My Invention is also applicable to metallic gates, and wire and other fencing, as
well as to the connecting of wire for various purposes.
I will first describe my Invention as applied to a hurdle.
As the two ends or standards of a hurdle are alike, and as all the ends of the
horizontal bars or rods are affixed or connected to the uprights or standards in
the same way.
I will describe only the affixing of one end of a horizontal bar or rod to an end
standard or upright.
I cut out or impress near the end of a horizontal bar or rod (preferably the
underside) a depression or nortice of a width equal to the section or thickness of
the metal of the upright or standard. I also form in the middle of the face of the
standard a hole or slot having a breadth equal to the thickness of the horizontal
bar to be affixed to it, and of a depth a little less than the depth of metal through
the mortice part of the said bar or rod. At the upper part of the hole or slot
described, a tongue is formed by bending outwards the metal of the standard, that
is to say, the said tongue is formed from the standard by making two vertical
incisions or cuts in the lines of the sides of the hole or slot described, and the
metal thus partially separated from the standard is bent outwards or out of the
plane of the said standard, thereby forming a prolongation of the hole or slot.
In connecting the horizontal bar or rod to the standard, the end of the said bar
or rod is placed in the opening in the standard, the mortice in the bottom edge of
the bar filling up the bottom edge of the slot in the standard. By now pressing
inwards the tongue above the slot in the standard so as to straighten it and bring
it into its original position, the hole or space left in the standard is completely
filled up, and the horizontal bar or rod is firmly affixed thereto. The end of the
horizontal bar or rod need not be morticed or recessed, as the tongue of the standard,
when closed down upon the top edge of the bar or rod, fits so tightly upon the
upper edge or surface of the bar or rod in the hole in the standard as to fix
the said bar or rod securely to the standard. The modification last described is
particularly applicable to fencing where continuous lengths of rods or wires are
employed, the said rods or wires being strained between the standards, and affixed

page_text: thereto by closing down the tongues upon the wires, as before described with
respect to a hurdle.
The bar or rod may be recessed on its upper edge; in this case the end of the
tongue of the standard is forced by pressure into the said recess, preventing the
withdrawal of the bar or rod from the standard.
If desirable the said tongue may be cranked when closed into the recess on the'
upper edge of the bar or rod.
Or the tongue may be forked at its end, or be shaped to follow the contour of
section of the bar or rod. The connecting parts may be modified by forming a
slot or depression on opposite sides of the bar or rod instead of at the top or
bottom, as described, the closing tongue of the standard being made broader and
longer.
The horizontal bars or rods are affixed to the inner or intermediate standards in
the same manner, as before described, excepting that the depressions or cut away
parts in the bars or rods are formed at proper distances apart between the end
standards.
Where the end of the horizontal bar or rod is required to lie flush with the end
face of the standard, the bottom edge of the hole in the standard is made of the
form of an inverted V, which fills up a corresponding shaped depression in the end
of the horizontal bar or rod. Or the lower edge of the slot in the standard may
be cranked inwards. I prefer, where the end of the bar or rod is to be flush with
the end of the upright, to form the standard with a channel or depression running
down its middle, the convex part of the channel forming the inner face of the
standard. The above described improvements are also applicable to the construc-
tion of vertical parallel bar or rod fencing. The tongue in the standard, as
described, may be dispensed with, and the end of the bar or rod split and spread
out into the hole in the standard. Or the end of the bar or rod may be screwed
and the metal of the standard closed around the screwed end.
The horizontal bars, before described, may be of any suitable figure in cross
section, but where additional strength with lightness is required, I prefer to employ
strips of metal, hollow or trough form, in cross section. And in order that the
standards may not be weakened by the openings made in them, for the ends of
the bars or rods to enter, additional metal is left at or about the parts so weakened.
Or the said openings in the standards for the reception of the ends of the bars or
rods may be produced by bulging the metal inwards or outwards, and closing the
bulged metal into a recess formed near the end of the bar or rod.
My improvements in connecting wire for various purposes, such as joining or
connecting wire or wires for fencing, and for suspending objects at the terminal
ends of wires, and the like, are as follows:-
The ends of the wires to be connected are passed respectively in opposite
directions through a short length of flattened tubing, the ends of the said tubing
being opened out or bellmouthed. The ends of the wires are folded or doubled
upon themselves, and, tension being applied to the wires, the folded up ends are
drawn into the conical apertures formed at the ends of the before described tubing.
Where one wire only is required to be connected to the tube described, a single
bellmouthed end is only necessary.
A ring, or a short length of tubing without conical ends, may be employed. The
ends of the wires to be connected sometimes require to be pointed. If the ends of
the wires be crimped or notched, the short length of tubing, or the ring described,
will be required to be indented or screwed internally to prevent the said short
length of tubing or ring being slipped or withdrawn from over the ends of the
wires so connected.