The History of Barbed Wire Fencing
The History of Barbed Wire Fencing
The Shinn Locked Four Pint, Brotherton Flat Barb, Buckthorn and Baker Flat Barb are early styles of barbed wire, but it was the Glidden Winner that captured control of the barbed wire industry for the patent holder in 1892. Known as the "devil's hatband" and the "devil's rope," barbed wire changed the history of ranching and farming. Ranches and farms continue today to use the woven wire with the small pointed barbs to keep animals enclosed and roaming animals from entering farm fields.
Invention
The inspiration for barbed wire came in 1873 from DeKalb, Illinois, farmer Henry Rose. Farmers and entrepreneurs Isaac Ellwood and Joseph Glidden viewed Rose's crudely made nail-embedded fence designed to keep animals confined to a pasture at the county fair and the pair thought they could improve on the basic concept. Both men designed metal fences incorporating sharp metal barbs and patented the fences that same year. Ellwood conceded that Glidden's model was superior and offered financing to market the new "Barb Fence Company" with fencing produced by hand in DeKalb.
Function
Barbed wire enclosed small animal pens in the upper Midwest and corralled cattle on the Texas plains. The railroads brought wire to install along the tracks to keep animals away from the train tracks. Archivists at the Ellwood House, historic home and museum, report that more than 150 railroads used Glidden’s to deter animal trespassing. The basic wire design was later used in World War I to protect trenches from enemy attack. The barbed design known as "war wire" was manufactured both in the United States and Europe.
Types
There are literally thousands of barbed wire designs, and inventor Joseph Glidden had plenty of company in the wire fence invention. L. L. Ellwood and his new partner, the Washburn and Moen Company, sought to corner the market on barbed wire by purchasing any patents that incorporated wire and barbs. The shape of the cut wire differed with each invention, but the key unique feature was the manner in which the wire wrapped to hold the barbs. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1892 that Glidden’s design, now owned by Ellwood and his manufacturing partner, was indeed the unique holder of the barbed wire patent.
Time Frame
Barbed wire took less than a decade for widespread acceptance and use throughout the American West. The hand-constructed wire gave way to large manufactured supplies when the Washburn & Moen and Isaac Ellwood Company partnership constructed a large factory in DeKalb County, Illinois. Over 50 million lbs. of wire was manufactured in 1879, an increase from the 1874 total of only 10,000 lbs. of hand-woven wire, according to historians at the Ellwood House and Museum in Illinois.
Historic Significance
The U.S. National Park Service states that the invention of barbed wire changed settlement patterns of the American West. Native Americans and buffalo no longer used the open range, and ranchers adapted techniques for keeping cattle to incorporate the barbed fencing.
