The Harbaugh's Torn Ribbon sample, as well as many other sections of barbed wire, are in the collections of the Kansas Museum of History.
The barbs are close together and the wire is manufactured to curl, making it unsatisfactory for fencing. Concertina wire is basically thick, heavy barbed wire. Ichabod Washburn, founder of this firm, was a benefactor and the namesake of Topeka's Washburn University.ĭuring the 1960s, the Lane Myers Company of Protection, Comanche County, Kansas was the leading supplier of concertina entanglement wire used on U. Much of the plain drawn wire used to make barbed wire was manufactured by the Massachusetts firm of Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Company. Raile of Topeka, Shawnee County and Schlyer's Fence Signal, patented June 25, 1889, by John Schlyer of Hays, Ellis County. Hyde of Ottawa, Franklin County Raile's Fence Signal, patented August 2, 1887, by Robert E. The tensile strength of the line wire (16G) is above 900N/mm2 and that of the barb wire (17G) is between 350 and 550N/mm2. Others include Beerbower's Two Point, patented October 6, 1885, by George Marshall Beerbower of Cherry Vale, Montgomery County Hyde's Spur Wheel, patented May 8, 1883, by Charles F. The nominal size of the wire is 16G (1.60mm) HIGH TENSILE for the line wire and 17G (1.44mm) soft for the barb wire, both having a tolerance of 2.5. Harbaugh's Torn Ribbon (shown above) was patented June 7, 1881, by Joseph W. Hundreds of barbed wire designs have been invented at least five variations were patented by Kansans in the late nineteenth century. As long as the design did not infringe on previous patents, inventors stood to make money and a name for themselves. To compete in this popular new business, all inventors had to do was devise different methods of attaching barbs, points, wheels, or blocks to the plain drawn wire that was manufactured in Eastern factories. Between 18, the national consumption of barbed wire jumped from 300 tons to 130,000 tons. Introduced in the 1860s, it quickly became widely-used. Waratah Barbed Wire feature Longlife Blue protection lasting up to 1.5 times longer than Heavy Gal products. It was relatively inexpensive, would not rot, was practically unaffected by fire, was strong and long-lasting, and was easily erected. Waratah Barbed Wire range includes High Tensile & Iowa wire. How, then, was a pioneer farmer or rancher going to fence in his land? The solution for many settlers was a special kind of wire that could be stretched taut between fence posts to keep predators out, keep livestock in, and to signal to other homesteaders that this land was already taken.īarbed wire was ideally suited to the wide-open spaces of Kansas lands. In the 19th century, lumber in large quantities was prohibitively expensive for most consumers to import to Kansas for fencing. Barbed wire, therefore, is ideally suited to the Plains. The prairies of Kansas historically are not plentiful sources of trees or loose stone, fence buildling materials commonly found in other parts of the country.