Is All Barbed Wire the Same?
Barbed wire proved invaluable for marking boundaries on the open prairie. Soon after its invention in 1874 there were over 570 different patents and thousands of variations. You can examine dozens of them on the fence nearby.
Why so many? Early inventors tried to improve the basic idea, most notably Joseph F. Glidden's 1874 innovation of a simple barb on a strong, double-stranded wire. Later entrepreneurs tried to cash in on barbed wire's potential. Those versions that could be produced more efficiently, and sold more cheaply, succeeded.
Courtesy hmdb.org
