A Portable Coil Winder for Fencing Wire

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 76, Issue 6, 15 June 1948, Page 543

A Portable Coil Winder for Fencing Wire

WITH supplies of z fencing wire still far short of satisfying the demand, much use is being made on farms of second-hand and salvaged wire. Such wire is usually difficult to handle, and this article by A. R. Dingwall, Instructor in Agriculture, Wanganui, describes the construction of a portable coil winder designed to facilitate such work.

THOUGH the winter months are generally regarded as the “off” season in. farming, they are usually fully occupied in attending to the winter welfare of livestock and in the repair, maintenance,, and overhaul of machinery, equipment, . farm buildings, and fences. Fences call for regular attention at this time of the year, particularly after years of wartime and post-war scarcities of materials and labour. Much necessary fencing construction and repair work have been unavoidably postponed from year to year in the hope that supplies of wire, staples, and labour would improve. ' . Recently the position has eased to some extent, though supplies of essentials are still far from adequate. For the. erection of new . subdivisional fences or the repair of those that have become . unserviceable most farmers still must make do with materials on the farm. That usually means using second-hand ' .wire,.- and may even necessitate dismantling non-essential fences and using the wire thus salvaged for immediate needs.

Handling Used Wire The coiling of used wire when dismantling old fence lines and the relaying of this wire or even new wire are not always easy. Used wire, especially when being coiled by hand, often becomes almost unmanageable, the coils being loosely wound, cumbersome, and . difficult to untangle when being paid out again along the new fence site.. Barbed wire is especially troublesome. .

A number of ingenious devices of varied design have been evolved with the object of surmounting these difficulties. One of these, of simple design and widely used, is the often crudelyconstructed “spinning jenny,” consisting essentially of two horizontal

cross-arms at right angles, with four vertical removable pegs, one in a hole near the outer end of each cross-arm, the whole revolving round a perpendicular spindle mounted on a suitable framework and passing through the centre of the cross-arms. A tapering framework . erected on the cross-arms, with the spindle passing up through the centre of the cross-arms and through the cross-pieces at the top of the frame, is an improvement. More elaborate designs consist of a wooden .or iron frame reel set on a horizontal shaft in a supporting framework, the reel usually being revolved, by a crank handle on the shaft to which it is fixed. Improved Design Winders of such designs can prove satisfactory if soundly and solidly.constructed, but the type described and illustrated in this article, though resembling the conventional reel types in general principles, has several special features that widen the scope of its usefulness as well as contributing toward efficiency. It has given good service in practice and is calculated to cause less wear on tempers than some of the winders in use today Salvaged parts such as are often to be found on the farm scrap heap dr are readily obtainable from the local blacksmith or v machinery exchange have gone into-:, its construction. Measurements quoted are intended only as a guide; in most instances they can be . varied with the materials available without affecting the design.' The winder is of the portable, hori-zontal-reel type. The wooden reel, revolving round a vertical steel shaft, is mounted on a sledge frame for convenience of transport by horse- or tractor, and the whole is light enough to be easily manoeuvrable by hand when necessary. , The sledge is built of two 6in. x 3iri. runners with 4in. x 2in. cross-members one cross-brace near each end of the

parallel runners, and two closely?, spaced bearers at the centre 'of the runners. The sledge is about 4ft. long and 2ft. 9in. wide. Set on each runner and nailed to the runners and the front surface of the rear cross-brace is a short 4in. x 2in.> upright carrying , a 4in. x lin. board for use in lifting and guiding the wire on to the reel. The height of this board is ' determined by the level at which the reel is set, the surface of the guide board , being slightly higher than the upper surface of the bottom plate of the reel. Centred on the two central crossbearers and securely bolted to them is the iron flange plate carrying the spindle. The plate illustrated is a bearing bracket from an old disc plough, and a similar plate was used as a bearing for the upper end of the spindle. The stub axle brackets on some types of plough wheels or the iron flange plates used as a base for galvanised piping stands should serve equally well. If a pipe flange is used, a piece of 1 to Igin. galvanised iron piping screwed into the flange would serve for a spindle, though in the model illustrated the spindle consists of an 18in. piece of l|in. steel welded into the centre hole of the bracket. The diameter and length of the spindle are governed largely by the size of the hole in the base plate and by the over-all thickness of the reel plus the depth of the top bearing bracket. The spindle protrudes about l|in. above the top bracket. The lower plate of the reel is 2ft. 6in. in diameter and constructed of two layers of ' lin. boards at right angles. Holes are bored through , the centre to take the spindle and halfway between edge and centre on opposite sides of the spindle for two fin. clamping bolts which protrude about ljiri. above the top plate of the reel. The six spacer blocks ■ are of 4in.' x 3in. timber 6in. long. The length can be' varied according to the thickness of the coils of wire to be wound

or unwound, but it is essential that they all be the same length and have square-cut ends. The outer edges of the blocks may be bevelled or rounded if desired. Each block has a short, round, iron peg fitted into the bottom centre, allowing for adjustment to take or make coils of varying internal diameters. They fit into a series of evenly-spaced holes bored into the lower flange of the reel around the circumferences of concentric circles.

The upper plate of the reel is also of lin. timber of the same diameter as the lower one. The iron bearing bracket to take the top of the spindle is bolted in the centre top of this plate, which is also bored to receive the two clamping bolts; square nuts

are shown on these bolts in the diagram, but wing nuts might be more convenient. The top plate also carries the four wooden turning handles. The wooden block fixed with number 8 wire to the centre cross-bearers, shown in the diagram on the previous page, is an improvised brake acting on the under surface of the lower plate and needed to control the speed of the reel at certain times when wire is being uncoiled.

T . ,1 ; i 'y in 9 Tne Three pairs of post staples partially driven in, evenly spaced round the outside edges of the top and- bottom plates, are used to take short lengths of light wire for tying up the coil

when it has been wound. Before the wire to be wound is - attached to the reel these binding wires are threaded through each pair of staples. The free end of the fencing wire is then attached to the reel by taking a hitch round one .of the clamping bolts between the two plates. As the reel is revolved the wire coils round the circumference afforded by the spacer blocks, and the binder wires are drawn in toward this circumference with their ends remaining free through the staples. When winding is completed the ends of each binder wire are twisted together and the coil securely tied.

The top plate is unclamped and removed for adjustments to the spacer blocks or for fitting a coil that is to be unwound off the reel. When being coiled the wire passes over the guide board at the rear of the sledge and is attached to one of the clamping bolts. The winder is rotated by the handles in the manner of a ship’s capstan.

New barbed wire is bought already wound on wooden spools and where conditions permit of such wire being drawn out from the spool along the fence line, instead of the spool being carried and the wire paid out along the line, the coil winder can be used conveniently by dispensing with the winder reel and slipping the barbed wire spool over the spindle.

NOTICE

THE PATENTS, DESIGNS AND TRADEMARKS AMENDMENT ACT 1939

ASSIGNMENT WITHOUT GOODWILL PURSUANT TO SECTION 24.

The Trademarks set out in the Schedule below were assigned on the 29th day of December, 1947, by AMERICAN CHEMICAL PAINT COMPANY, ' a corporation of The State of Delaware, of Brookside Avenue, Ambler, Pennsylvania, United States of America, Manufacturers, to IVON WATKINS LIMITED, a company incorporated under the laws of the Dominion of New Zealand, of 32. to 34 Currie Street, New Plymouth, in the said Dominion, Manufacturers and Merchants, without the goodwill of the business in which they were then in use. - REGISTERED TRADE MARKS ROOTONE, No. 41715, Class 1 (Sch. 4) Chemical products used in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; manures (natural and / artificial). TRANSPLANTONE, 41716, Class 1 (Sch. 4) Chemical products used in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; manures (natural and artificial). 1 FRUITONE 41717, Class 1 (Sch. 4)—Chemical products used 'in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; manures (natural and artificial). WEEDONE, 41970, Class 5. (Sch. 4) —Chemical preparations for, eradicating and killing weeds. WEEDEX, 43304, Class 5 (Sch. Chemical preparations for eradicating and killing weeds and other growths. TUBERTONE, 43305, Class 1 (Sch. 4) Chemical products used 'in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; , manures (natural and artificial).' DORMATONE, 44021, Class 1 (Sch. 4)— Chemical products used in agriculture, horticulture, and forestry; manures, (natural and artificial). ' WEEDUST, 44608, Class 5 (Sch. 4) —Chemical preparations, including chemical preparations in solid form, for exterminating and killing , weeds. ' WEEDAR, 44993, Class 5 (Sch. 4)—Chemical preparations for eradicating and killing weeds.