
Typical modern agricultural barbed
wire
Barbed wire, also known as
barb
wire (and frequently in dialect form spelled
bob or
bobbed), is a type of
fencing
wire constructed with sharp edges or
points arranged at intervals along the strand(s). It is used to
construct inexpensive
fences and is used atop
walls surrounding secured property. It is also
a major feature of the fortifications in
trench warfare (as a
wire obstacle).
A person or animal trying to pass through or over barbed wire will
suffer discomfort and possibly injury. Barbed wire fencing requires
only fence posts, wire, and fixing devices such as
staple. It is simple to construct and
quick to erect, even by an unskilled person.
The first
patent in the United
States
for barbed wire was issued in 1867 to Lucien
B. Smith of Kent, Ohio
, who is regarded as the inventor. Joseph F. Glidden of
DeKalb,
Illinois
, received a
patent for the modern invention in 1874 after he made his own
modifications to previous versions.
Barbed wire was the first wire technology capable of restraining
cattle. Wire fences were cheaper and easier
to erect than their alternatives. (One such alternative was
Osage orange, a thorny bush which was
time-consuming to transplant and grow. The Osage orange later
became a supplier of the wood used in making barbed wire fence
posts).
When wire fences became widely available in
the United
States
in the late 19th century, they made it affordable
to fence much larger areas than before. They made intensive
animal husbandry practical on a
much larger scale.
History

A selection of forms of historic and
modern barbed wire
- Barbed
wire has a multifaceted historical context that began in the in mid
19th century Europe, but primarily occurred
in The United
States
and can be divided into two time periods.
The first being before the concept was even demonstrated or thought
of on such a large scale as the second time period from 1873 onward
demonstrates. The second historical part also considers how the
barbed wire industry grew and later impacted farming and ranching
life in the Western United States and later the world.
Before 1873
- It is
often overlooked, but it was in France
that the
first person to propose a fencing type consisting of flat and thin
wire was in France by Leonce Eugene Grassin-Baledans in 1860 and
consisted of bristling points, making this fence difficult to
cross. Louis Francois Janin later proposed a double wire
that held diamond shaped barbs made out of metal material in April
1865 and received a patent for his proposal. Michael Kelly from New
York shared a similar idea to Janin, but proposed that the fencing
should be applied for the specific purpose of deterring animals.
More patents followed, and in 1867 alone, there were six patents
issued for barbed wire, and only two of them addressed livestock
deterrence, one of which was from American Lucien B. Smith of
Ohio.Before 1873, the U.S. was moving westward because of recently
acquired lands from the Louisiana
Purchase that later led to the Plains Indians Wars, solidifying
America’s territorial dominance over this great Central Expanse.
Ranchers moved out on the plains, and a need was created to fence
their land in against encroaching farmers, other ranchers, and
railroads throughout the West, creating a desire for property
delimitation. Additionally, farmers needed to keep stray cattle
from trampling their crops, so it was also in the best interest of
this group to find a sturdy barrier. Traditional fence materials
used in the Eastern U.S. like wood, stone, and hedging were not
reliable in the rain starved dusty soils, so a more cost effective
alternative was needed to make the cattle operations more
profitable for both ranchers and their investors back in the
Eastern U.S.
The 1873 meeting and Initial Development
- The first of the big four in barbed wire was Joseph Glidden, who at that time was a farmer
in 1873, and is often credited for refining the successful barbed
wire product, but let others popularize it for him. Glidden
initially came up with his idea for a sturdier fence, because of a
display at the 1873 fair in DeKalb Illinois by a man named Henry B.
Rose. Rose had patented “The Wooden Strip with Metallic Points” in
May 1873. The invention was simply wooden block with wire
protrusions designed to keep cows from breaching the owners’ fence.
That day, Glidden was accompanied by two other men the first of was
Isaac L. Ellwood a hardware dealer and the second was Jacob Haish a lumber merchant, both of whom
shared Glidden’s drive to create a more durable wire that contained
fixed barbs. Glidden experimented with a grindstone in order to
twist two wires together to successfully hold the barbs on the wire
in place which were created from experiments with a coffee mill
from his home. Later Glidden was joined by Ellwood who knew his
design couldn’t compete with Glidden’s which he applied for patent
in October 1873. Meanwhile Haish, who had already secured several
patents for barb wire design in the interim already applied over a
week before Glidden for a patent on his third type of wire, the S
barb and charged Glidden for interference, pushing Glidden’s
approval for his patented wire nicknamed “The Winner” back until
November 24, 1874. Barbed wire production greatly increased with
Glidden and Ellwood’s establishment of the Barb Fence Company in
DeKalb Illinois following the success of The Winner. The company’s
success attracted the attention of the Vice President Charles
Francis Washburn of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company,
which was a very important producer of plain wire in the Eastern
U.S. Washburn visited De Kalb and convinced Glidden to sell his
stake in the Barb Wire Fence Company, while Ellwood stayed in
DeKalb and renamed the company I.L Ellwood & Company of
DeKalb.
Promotion and Consolidation
- John Warner Gates of Illinois entered the scene in the late
1870s to promote the successful product in the highly lucrative
markets of Texas which were initially hesitant to adopt the wire
because fears that cattle might be harmed, or that the North was
somehow trying to make profits off the South. There was also heated
debate between the farmers who wanted fencing and the ranchers who
were losing the open range. Barbed wire ended up prevailing through
demonstrations in San Antonio in 1876, with Gates showing that the
technology could keep cattle contained, leading sales to increase
dramatically in the years to follow. Gates eventually parted
company Ellwood and branched off on his own become a barbed wire
baron himself. Throughout the height of barbed wire sales in the
latter half of the 19th century, Washburn/Ellwood, Gates, and Haish
competed with one another, with Ellwood and Gates eventually
joining forces to create the American Steel and Wire Company later
acquired by The U.S. Steel Corporation. Between 1873 and 1899 there
were many companies, as much as 150 manufacturing barbed wire to
cash in on the insatiable demand in the West, but there were also
many investors interested in the wire because of its low capital
investment requirements and the ability for almost anyone with
enough determination to manufacture a new wire design for profit.
Between these time periods, there was also a sharp decline in the
amount of firms engaged in wire production, with most being
consolidated into larger wire producing companies, the most visible
being the American Steel and Wire Company, formed by the merging of
Gate’s and Washburn/Ellwood’s industries. Smaller companies were
wiped out because of economies of scale costs and the smaller pool
of consumers available compared to the larger corporations. The
American Steel and Wire Company established in 1899 was a good
representation of vertical integration, controlling all aspects of
production from producing the steel rods to making many different
wire and nail products from the same steel, although later part of
U.S. Steel, the production of barbed wire would still be a major
source of revenue for years to come.
Barbed Wire and Conflict in History
In the American West
- Barbed wire emerged as a major source of conflict in the U.S.
West with the so called “Big Die Up” incident in the 1880’s. This
conflict occurred because of the instinctual migrations of cattle
away from the blizzard conditions of the Northern Plains to the
Warmer and plentiful Southern Plains, but by the early 1880’s this
area was already divided and claimed by ranchers. The ranchers in
place, especially in the Texas Panhandle knew that their holdings
could not support the grazing of additional cattle, so the only
alternative was to block the migrations with barb wire fencing.
Many of the herds were decimated in the winter of 1885 with some
losing as many as three-quarters of all animals when they could not
find a way around the fence. Later other smaller scale cattlemen,
especially in central Texas
, opposed the
closing of the open range, and began cutting fences to allow cattle
to pass through to find grazing land. In this transition
zone between the agricultural regions to the south and the
rangeland to the north, conflict erupted, with vigilantes joining
the scene causing chaos and even death. The fence cutters war came
to an end with the passage of a Texas law in 1884 that stated among
other provisions that fence cutting was a felony, and other states
followed although conflicts still occurred through the opening
years of the 20th century.
In War
- Barbed wire also became extensively used in war efforts like
the Boer War, where it played a strategic
role bringing spaces under control. More significantly, barbed wire
was used extensively in World War I,
where it was used as an effective tool to prevent motion with
deadly consequences. Barbed wire entanglements were placed in front
of trenches to prevent direct charges on men below contributing
increasingly to a war fought by man against machines. The barbs on
the wires themselves also displayed noticeable differences, the
most noticeable being that they were much closer together forming
an often continuous sequence. Barbed wire was effectively able to
weather most heavy bombardments because it could be easily
replaced, and its structure consisted of so much open space that
machine guns rarely destroyed enough of it to render its purpose
obsolete. Eventually, barbed wire was overcome by the
production of the Tank in 1916 shown by the
Allied breakthrough at Amiens
through
German lines in August 8, 1918.
In Concentration Camps
- In the 1930’s and 40’s Europe the Nazis
used barbed wire in concentration camp architecture, where it
usually surrounded the camp and was electrified to prevent escape.
Barbed wire served the purpose of keeping humanity contained and
was a cheap, easy to install, and deadly at the same time.
Additionally, different nationalities were separated, men and women
were separated, and working nationalities like Jews and Ukrainians
were separated within the camps walls. Infirmaries in
extermination camps like Auschwitz
where people were gassed or experimented on were
often separated from other areas by electrified wire and were often
braided with branches to prevent outsiders from knowing what was
concealed behind their walls.
Modern Day Uses
- Barbed wire continues to be used today as a means of division
in areas as diverse as South American rainforests dividing large
landowner’s holdings from those of natives, to the U.S./Mexico
border where it composes portions of the fence separating the
countries. Additionally barbed wire is used to divide Israel from
the Palestinian territories, while also delimiting refugee camps in
areas like Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Kosovo. Detainees from Camp
X-Ray in Guantanamo Bay Cuba are also
fenced in and currently contained by barbed wire.
In the United States Southwest
John Warne Gates demonstrated barbed wire
for Washburn and Moen in Military
Plaza, San Antonio,
Texas
in 1876. The demonstration showing cattle restrained
by the new kind of fencing was followed immediately by invitations
to the Menger
Hotel
to place orders. Gates subsequently had a
falling out with Washburn and Moen and Isaac Ellwood.
He moved to St.
Louis
and founded the Southern Wire Company, which became
the largest manufacturer of unlicensed or "bootleg" barbed
wire. An 1880 US District Court decision upheld the validity
of the Glidden patent, effectively establishing a monopoly.
This
decision was affirmed by the US Supreme Court
in 1892. In 1898 Gates took control of
Washburn and Moen, and created the American Steel and Wire
monopoly, which became a part of the
United States Steel Corporation.
This led to disputes known as the
range
wars between
free-range ranchers and
farmers in the late 19th century. These were similar to the
disputes which resulted from
enclosure
laws in England in the early 18th century. These disputes were
decisively settled in favor of the farmers, and heavy penalties
were instituted for cutting a barbed wire fence. Within 25 years,
nearly all of the open range had been fenced in under private
ownership. For this reason, some historians have dated the end of
the
Old West era of American
history to the invention and subsequent proliferation of barbed
wire.
Agricultural fencing

Classic barbed wire

Classic barbed wire
Barbed wire fences remain the standard fencing technology for
enclosing cattle in most regions of the US, but not all countries.
The wire is aligned under tension between heavy, braced, fence
posts (strainer posts) and then held at the correct height by being
attached to wooden posts and battens, or steel
star posts. The gaps between star posts vary
depending on terrain. On short fences in hilly country they may be
placed every , while in flat terrain with long spans and relatively
few stock they may be spaced up to 30 to . Wooden posts are
normally spaced at 2
rods (10 m) in any
case with 4 or 5 battens in between. Many farmers place posts 2
meters apart as battens can bend causing wires to close in on one
another.
Barbed wire for agricultural fencing is typically available in two
varieties—"soft" or mild-steel wire and "high-
tensile". Both types are
galvanized for longevity. High-tensile wire is
made with thinner but higher-strength steel. Its greater strength
make fences longer lasting because cattle cannot stretch and loosen
it. It copes with the expansions and contraction caused by heat and
animal pressure by stretching and relaxing within wider elastic
limits. It also supports longer spans, but because of its "springy"
nature it is hard to handle and somewhat dangerous for
inexperienced fencers. Soft wire is much easier to work but is less
durable and only suitable for short spans such as repairs and
gates, where it is less likely to tangle.
In high soil-fertility areas where dairy cattle are used in great
numbers 5- or 7-wire fences are common as the main boundary and
internal dividing fences. On sheep farms 7-wire fences are common
with the second (from bottom) to fifth wire being plain wire.
In
New
Zealand
wire fences must provide passage for dogs since
they are the main means of controlling and driving animals on
farms.
Gates

Barbed wire fence in west Texas
As with any fence, barbed wire fences require gates to allow the
passage of persons, vehicles and farm implements. Gates vary in
width from to allow the passage of vehicles and tractors, to on
farm land to pass combines and swathers.
Gates for cattle tend to have 4 wires when along a three wire
fence, as cattle tend to put more stress on gates, particularly on
corner gates. The fence on each side of the gated ends with two
corner posts braced or unbraced depending on the size of the post.
An unpounded post (often an old broken post) is held to one corner
post with wire rings which act as hinges. On the other end a full
length post, the tractor post, is placed with the pointed end
upwards with a ring on the bottom stapled to the other corner post,
the latch post, and on top a ring is stapled to the tractor post,
the post is tied with a
Stockgrower's
Lash or one of numerous other opening bindings.
Wires are then tied
around the post at one end then run to the other end where they are
stretched by hand or with a stretcher, before posts are stapled on
every , often this type of gate is called a Portagee Fence or a Portagee Gate in various ranching communities
of coastal Central
California
.
Most gates can be opened by push post. The chain is then wrapped
around the tractor post and pulled onto the nail, stronger people
can pull the gate tighter but anyone can jar off the chain to open
the gate.
Human-proof fencing
Most barbed wire fences, while sufficient to discourage cattle, are
passable by humans who can simply climb over the fence, or through
the fence by stretching the gaps between the wires using non-barbed
sections of the wire as hand holds. To prevent humans crossing,
many
prisons and other high-security
installations construct fences with
razor
wire, a variant which instead of occasional barbs features
near-continuous cutting surfaces sufficient to injure unprotected
persons who climb on it. A commonly seen alternative is the
placement of a few strands of barbed wire at the top of a
chain link fence. The limited mobility of
someone climbing a fence makes passing conventional barbed wire
more difficult. On some chain link fences these strands are
attached to a bracket tilted 45 degrees towards the intruder,
further increasing the difficulty.
Barbed wire began to be widely used as an implement of war during
World War I. Wire was placed either to
impede or halt the passage of soldiers, or to channel them into
narrow
defile in which small
arms, particularly
machine guns, and
indirect fire could be used with greater effect as they attempted
to pass.
Artillery bombardments on the
Western Front became increasingly
aimed at cutting the barbed wire that was a major component of
trench warfare, particularly once new
"wire-cutting" fuses were introduced midway through the war. As the
war progressed the wire was used in shorter lengths that were
easier to transport and more difficult to cut with artillery. Other
inventions were also a result of the war, such as the screw-picket,
which enabled construction of wire obstacles to be done at night in
No Man's Land without the necessity of
hammering stakes into the ground and drawing attention from the
enemy.
During
the Soviet-Afghan War, the
accommodation of Afghan refugees
into Pakistan
was controlled in Pakistan's largest province,
Balochistan, under General Rahimuddin
Khan, by making the refugees stay for controlled durations in
barbed wire camps (see Controlling
Soviet-Afghan War Refugees).
The frequent use of barbed wire on prison walls, around
concentration camps, and the like, has made it
symbolic of oppression and denial of freedom in
general.
For example, in Germany
the totality of the complex German
Democratic Republic
border regime is commonly referred to with the
short phrase "Mauer und Stacheldraht" (that is, "wall and barbed
wire"). Recently England
and France
have begun
restricting the use of barbed wire due to the risk of injury it
poses to trespassers.
Injuries caused by barbed wire
Movement against barbed wire can result in moderate to severe
injuries to the skin and, depending on body area and barbed wire
configuration, possibly to the underlying tissue. Humans can manage
not to injure themselves excessively when dealing with barbed wire
as long as they are cautious. Restriction of movement, appropriate
clothing, and slowing movement when close to barbed wire aid in
reducing injury.
Injuries caused by barbed wire are typically seen in
horses,
bats, or
birds. Horses panic easily, and once caught in barbed
wire, large patches of skin may be torn off. For this reason barbed
wire was the single most important factor in rendering the U.S.
Cavalry ineffective and led to the Cavalry's eventual dismantling.
At best, such injuries may heal, but they may cause disability or
death (particularly due to
infection).
Birds or bats may not be able to perceive thin strands of barbed
wire and suffer injuries. For this reason horse fences may have
rubber bands nailed parallel to the wires.More than 60 different
species of wildlife have been reported in Australia as victims of
entanglement on barbed wire fences, and the wildlife friendly
fencing project is beginning to address this problem. The
project is funded mainly by the World Wide Fund for
Nature.Grazing animals with slow movements that will back off at
the first notion of pain (
e.g., sheep and cows) will not
generally suffer the severe injuries often seen in other
animals.
Barbed wire has been reported as a tool for human
torture. It is also frequently used as a weapon in
hardcore professional wrestling
matches, most often as a covering for another type of
weapon—
Mick Foley was infamous for using
a two-by-four wrapped in barbed wire—and infrequently as a covering
of or substitute for the ring ropes.
Installation of barbed wire
The most important and most time-consuming part of a barbed wire
fence is constructing the
corner post and the bracing
assembly. A barbed wire fence is under tremendous tension, often up
to half a
ton, and so the corner post's sole
function is to resist the tension of the fence spans connected to
it. The bracing keeps the corner post vertical and prevents slack
from developing in the fence.
Brace posts are placed in-line about from the corner post.
A horizontal
compression brace connects the top of the two
posts, and a diagonal wire connects the top of the brace post to
the bottom of the corner post. This diagonal wire prevents the
brace post from leaning, which in turn allows the horizontal brace
to prevent the corner post from leaning into the brace post. A
second set of brace posts (forming a
double brace) is used
whenever the barbed wire span exceeds . If an 8" post is * feet in
length is driven four feet into the ground the brace post assembly
can be omitted.
When the barbed wire span exceeds , a
braced line assembly
is added in-line. This has the function of a corner post and brace
assembly but handles tension from opposite sides. It uses diagonal
brace wire that connects the tops to the bottoms of all adjacent
posts.
Line posts are installed along the span of the fence at
intervals of . An interval of is most common. Heavy livestock and
crowded pasture demands the smaller spacing. The sole function of a
line post is not to take up slack but to keep the barbed wire
strands spaced equally and off the ground.
Once these posts and bracing have been erected, the wire is wrapped
around one corner post, held with a hitch (a timber hitch works
well for this) often using a staple to hold the height and then
reeled out along the span of the fence replacing the role every 400
m. It is then wrapped around the opposite corner post, pulled
tightly with wire stretchers, and sometimes nailed with more fence
staples, although this may make readjustment of tension or
replacement of the wire more difficult. Then it is attached to all
of the line posts with fencing staples driven in partially to allow
stretching of the wire.
It is installed from the top down!
There are several ways to anchor the wire to a corner post:
- Hand-knotting. The wire is wrapped around the
corner post and knotted by hand. This is the most common method to
attaching wire to a corner post. A timber hitch works well as it
stays better with wire than with rope.
- Crimp sleeves. The wire is wrapped around the
corner post and bound to the incoming wire using metal sleeves
which are crimped using lock cutters. This method should be avoided
because while sleeves can work well on repairs in the middle of the
fence where there is not enough wire for hand knotting, they tend
to slip when under tension.
- Wire vise. The wire is passed through a hole
drilled into the corner post and is anchored on the far side.
- Wire wrap. The wire is wrapped around the
corner post and wrapped onto a special, gritted helical wire which
also wraps around the incoming wire, with friction holding it in
place.
Barbed wire for agriculture use is typically double-strand
12½-
gauge,
zinc-coated (galvanized)
steel and
comes in rolls of length. Barbed wire is usually placed on the
inner (pasture) side of the posts. Where a fence runs between two
pastures livestock could be with the wire on the outside or on both
sides of the fence.
Galvanized wire is classified into three categories; Classes I, II,
and III. Class I has the thinnest coating and the shortest life
expectancy. A wire with Class I coating will start showing general
rusting in 8 to 10 years, while the same wire with Class III
coating will show rust in 15 to 20 years. Aluminum-coated wire is
occasionally used, and yields a longer life.
Corner posts are in diameter or larger, and a minimum in length may
consist of treated wood or from durable on-site trees such as
osage orange,
black locust,
red
cedar, or red
mulberry, also railroad
ties, telephone, and power poles are salvaged to be used as corner
posts(poles and railroad ties were often treated with chemicals
determined to be an environmental hazard and cannot be reused in
some jurisdictions). In Canada spruce posts are sold for this
purpose. Posts are driven at least and may be anchored in a
concrete base square and deep. Brace posts are a minimum in
diameter and are anchored in a concrete base square and deep. Iron
posts, if used, are a minimum 2½ inch (64 mm) in diameter.
Bracing wire is typically smooth 9-gauge. Line posts are set to a
depth of about . The main advantage of steel posts is that they can
be driven with a post moll or a cylindrical tube closed at one end
with plate steel for weight, and pulled out by hand as opposed to
wooden posts which must be pounded with a hydraulic pounder and
often pulled with a front end loader. Conversely steel posts are
not as stiff as wood and wires are fastened with slips along fixed
teeth which means variations in driving height effect wire
spacing.
During the First World War,
screw
pickets were used for the installation of wire obstacles; these
were metal rods with eyelets for holding strands of wire, and a
corkscrew-like end that could literally be screwed into the ground
rather than hammered, so that
wiring
parties could work at night near enemy soldiers and not reveal
their position by the sound of hammers.
See also
Notes
- Glidden Steel called its product "Barb Wire".
- "In my book a pioneer is a man who turned all the grass
upside down, strung bob-wire over the dust that was left, poisoned
the water, cut down the trees, killed the Indian who owned the land
and called it progress." Timothy Egan is quoting a surprising
source, the celebrated cowboy artist Charles Russell.
- Carlisle, Rodney (2004). Scientific American Inventions and
Discoveries, p. 241. John Wiley & Songs, Inc., New Jersey.
ISBN 0471244104.
- Henry D. and Francis T. McCallum,The Wire That Fenced The
West(Norman: Oklahoma UP, 1965),p.29.
- Alan Krell,The Devil's Rope: A Cultural History of Barbed
Wire(London: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2002), p.16.
- Ibid.,19.
- Reviel Netz,Barbed Wire: An Ecology of
Modernity(Middletown:Wesleyan UP, 2004) p.10.
- Alan Krell,The Devil's Rope: A Cultural History of Barbed
Wire(London: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2002), p.28.
- Henry D. and Francis T. McCallum,The Wire That Fenced the
West(Norman: Oklahoma UP, 1965), p.27.
- Ibid.,29-32.
- Ibid.,41.
- Ibid.,87.
- Alan Krell,The Devil's Rope: A Cultural History of Barbed
Wire(London: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2002), p.28.
- Joseph M., McFadden, "Monopoly in Barbed Wire: The Formation of
the American Steel and Wire Company."The Business History
Review,52,4,1978, p.2.
- Ibid.,5.
- Ibid.,10.
- Henry D. and Francis T. McCallum,The Wire That Fenced The
West(Norman: Oklahoma UP, 1965), p.131.
- Ibid.,165-166.
- Reviel Netz,Barbed Wire: An Ecology of
Modernity(Middletown:Wesleyan UP, 2004), p.108.
- Ibid., 124-127.
- Oliver Razac,Barbed Wire: A Political History(New York: The
New Press, 2002), p.59.
- Ibid.,89.
- Ibid.,113.
References
- Henry D. and Frances T. McCallum. The Wire that Fenced the
West. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1965. LoC:
65-11234.
- Olivier Razac. Barbed Wire: A Political History, W. W.
Norton & Company, 2003, ISBN 1-56584-812-8
- Reviel Netz. Barbed wire. An ecology of
modernity, Wesleyan University Press, 2004, ISBN
978-0-8195-6719-2
- Biography of John W. Gates, barbed wire
promoter who monopolized the industry with the American Steel and
Wire Company, accessed March 29, 2006
External links
Information
- Website of the Devils Rope Museum in McLean,
Texas
- The Kansas Barbed Wire Museum in La Crosse, Kansas is
the only museum in the world dedicated solely to barbed wire and
the history of fencing. History of the invention of barbed wire
- Barbed Wire Photo Gallery: DeKalb photos
included, barbed wire examples pgs. 3 thru 24.
- Development and Rise of Barbed Wire at University
of Virginia
accessed March 29, 2006
- Barbed Wire Fencing - Its Rise and Influence
also at UVA, from Agricultural History, Volume 13, October
1939, accessed September 20, 2006
- Glidden's patent for barbed wire accessed March
29, 2006
- Antique Barbed Wire Society accessed September 21,
2006
- Barbed Wire in Texas
- Barbed wire changes life on the American Great
Plains
- A political history of barbed wire
- The History of Barbed Wire About.com
- The Wildlife Friendly Fencing project
- Papers, 1878-1938, of Texas rancher and co-inventor Isaac
L. Ellwood in Southwest Collection/Special Collections
Library at Texas Tech University
Patents – (about 570 were issued):
- Patent history accessed September 21, 2006
- –
Lucien Smith, Kent,
Ohio
, Wire fence – "rotary spools with
projecting spurs" (June 1867)
- –
William Hunt, Scott, New
York
, Improvement in Fences – "sharpened spur
wheels" (July 1867)
- –
Michael Kelly, New York
City
(!), Improvement in Fences – "thorny
fence" (1868)
- –
Joshua Rappleye, Seneca County, New York
, Improvement in Constructing Wire fence –
tensioner for fence with palings (pickets) (1871)
- –
Henry Rose, DeKalb County, Illinois
, Improvement in Wire-fences – "strips
provided with metal points" (1873)
- –
Isaac Ellwood, DeKalb,
Illinois
Improvement in Barbed Fences – "single piece of metal with
four points, attached to a flat rail" (February, 1874)
- – Joseph Glidden, DeKalb, Illinois, Improvement in
Wire-fences – twisted fence wires with short spur coiled
around one of the strands (November, 1874) This became the most
popular patent.
- – Jacob Haish, DeKalb, Illinois, Improvement in Wire-fence
Barbs – "single piece of wire bent into the form of the letter
S" so that both strands are clasped (1875)
- –
John Nelson, Creston,
Illinois
, Improvement in Wire-fence Barbs – barb
installable on existing fence wire, (1876)