Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

BARBED WIRE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 385 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

BARBED See also:

WIRE , a protective variety of See also:fencing, consisting usually of several strands of wire See also:twisted together with See also:sharp spikes or points clinched or fastened into the strands. In the See also:United States, barbed wire for fencing was originally suggested to meet conditions existing in the western states, by See also:reason of the large See also:cattle-raising See also:industry in sections where See also:timber was scarce. See also:Prior to its introduction, a No. 9 See also:round or See also:oval See also:iron wire was popular on the frontier of the United States and- in See also:South See also:America, as a fencing material. Large amounts were used annually for this purpose, but iron lacked strength, and single wire strand was not fully satisfactory on See also:account of stretching in warm and contracting in See also:cold See also:weather, and of thus being broken. Cattle would rub against a smooth fence, and this See also:constant pressure loosened the posts and See also:broke the wire. To overcome this defect, ingenious See also:people--the most successful being farmers—set themselves to find a way by which wire could be used and at the same See also:time be See also:free from destruction by the animals it was intended to confine. ' This investigation resulted in the invention of barbed wire. Soon after, automatic machinery was invented for rapidly and cheaply placing the barb upon the smooth wire, so that the cost of barbed wire is much less than the cost of smooth wire when it was in See also:general use. So immediately did barbed wire find favour with the farmers of the United States, and, in fact, all over the See also:world, that the manufacture of wire was revolutionized. The See also:history of barbed wire fencing is of See also:recent date. In the United States—the real See also:home of this industry—patents were taken out by Lucien B.

See also:

Smith, See also:Kent, See also:Ohio, in 1867; by See also:William B. See also:Hunt, of See also:Scott, N.Y., at almost the same time; and by See also:Michael See also:Kelly, of New See also:York, a See also:year later. The See also:practical beginning of the industry, however, was in the See also:patents issued to See also:Joseph F. Glidden, De See also:Kalb, See also:Ill., 1874, on barbed fence wire, and during the same year, to Joseph F. Glidden and Phineas W. See also:Vaughan, for a See also:machine to manufacture the same. These inventions were the See also:foundation of the See also:system of patents under which barbed wire has been protected and sold. The development of the barbed wire industry would hardly have been possible without See also:steel. Iron wire, used for fencing prior to the introduction of steel, was not suitable, seeing that iron does not possess sufficient tensile strength and lacks homogeneity, qualities which See also:Bessemer and open-See also:hearth steels possess in a high degree. The advantages of galvanized barbed wire fencing are that it is almost imperishable, is no See also:burden on the posts; does not oppose the See also:wind with enough See also:surface to See also:rack the posts, thus allowing See also:water to See also:settle around them and rot them; is economical, not only in the See also:comparative cheapness of its first cost but also in the amount of See also:land covered by it; and is effective as a barrier against all kinds of stock and a See also:protection against See also:dogs and See also:wild beasts. Cattle, once discovering what it is, will not See also:press against it, nor even go near it, and thus it becomes an effective means of dividing the See also:farmer's See also:ranch into such See also:fields as he may See also:desire. It is quickly and cheaply constructed, and has the See also:advantage of freedom from harbouring weeds.

It affords no impediment to the view. A See also:

man can see across his See also:farm, and ascertain what is going on in every portion within the See also:scope of See also:vision, as plainly as if there were no fences. It does not contribute to the formation of See also:snow drifts as do other kinds of efficient fence. This makes it a favourite See also:form of fencing for railroads and along highways. Finally, barbed wire composed of two wires twisted together, once firmly put in See also:place, will retain its taut See also:condition through many seasons without repair. The fact of the wire being twisted allows it to adapt itself to all the varying temperatures. The introduction of barbed wire met with some opposition in America on supposed humanitarian grounds, but ample and extended tests, both of the See also:economy and the humanity of the new material, silenced this objection. Now no See also:American farmer, especially in the See also:west, ever thinks of putting any other See also:kind of fencing on his farm, unless it may be the new types of See also:meshed wire See also:field fencing which have been coming so generally' into use since 1899. Generally speaking, the use of barbed wire fencing in other countries has not been as extensive as in the western United States. While it has been used on a comparatively large See also:scale in See also:Argentina and See also:Australia, both these countries use a much larger quantity of See also:plain wire fence, and in Argentina there is an important See also:consumption of high-See also:carbon oval fence wire of See also:great strength, which apparently forms the only kind of fence that meets the conditions in a satisfactory manner. It is interesting to See also:note the largely increased demand for meshed wire field fencing in the more thickly settled-portions of the United States, and along the lines of railway. Beginning with 1899, there has been an See also:annual increase in this demand, owing to the scarcity and high cost of labour, and the discontinuing of the See also:building of See also:rail fences.

Meshed wire is considered by many a better enclosure for small animals, like See also:

sheep and hogs, than the barbed wire fence. Barbed wire has been popular with railroads, but of See also:late meshed wire fencing has been substituted with advantage, the fabric being made of wires of larger See also:diameter than formerly, to insure greater stability.

End of Article: BARBED WIRE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
BARBECUE (Span. barbacoa) 		[next]
BARBEL (Barbus vulgaris)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries