Barbed wireIn 1873, farmer Joseph F. Glidden applied for a patent on barbed wire. The barbs were cut from sheet metal and were inserted between two wires which were twisted considerably more than with today's common design. This product would transform the West. Before this innovation, settlers on the treeless plains had no easy way to fence livestock away from cropland, and ranchers had no way to prevent their herds from roaming far and wide. Glidden's barbed wire opened the plains to large-scale farming, and closed the open range, bringing the era of the cowboy and the round-up to an end. Glidden eventually received five patents and is generally considered the inventor of barbed wire.Image: detail from patent application diagram. |
