Category: Engineering & Technology

Fences, Gates and Bridges: A Practical Manual

A Good Garden Fence; A Southern Picket Fence; Fences of Split Pickets; Ornamental Picket Fences; Rustic Picket Fences; Light Picket Fences; Hand-made Wire and Picket Fences; Fence of Wire and Pickets.

Chapters

1. CHAPTER I.

2. CHAPTER II.

3. CHAPTER III.

4. CHAPTER IV.

A Good Garden Fence; A Southern Picket Fence; Fences of Split Pickets; Ornamental Picket Fences; Rustic Picket Fences; Light Picket Fences; Hand-made Wire and Picket Fences; Fen...

5. CHAPTER V.

6. CHAPTER VI.

7. CHAPTER VII.

8. CHAPTER VIII.

9. CHAPTER IX.

10. CHAPTER X.

Making Fence Posts; A Post Holder; Driving Fence Posts by Hand; To Drive Posts Without Splitting; A Powerful Post Driver; Setting a Gate Post; Live Posts; Mending a Split Post;...

11. CHAPTER XI.

Wooden Gates; A Very Substantial Farm Gate; A Strong and Neat Gate; Light Iron Gates; Self-closing Gates; Gate for a Village Lot; A Chinese Door or Gate Spring; Lifting Gates; R...

12. CHAPTER XII.

13. CHAPTER XIII.

14. CHAPTER XIV.

15. CHAPTER I.

The zigzag rail fence was almost universally adopted by the settlers in the heavily timbered portions of the country, and countless thousands of miles of it still exist, though...

16. CHAPTER II.

To build a stone wall, some skill is required. The foundation should be dug out a foot deep, and the earth thrown upon each side, which serves to turn water from the wall. Large...

17. CHAPTER III.

In building a board fence, always start right, and it will be little trouble to continue in the same way. Much of the board fencing erected is put together very carelessly, and...

18. CHAPTER IV.

The engraving, figure 39, represents a good, substantial garden fence, that, while somewhat more serviceable than the ordinary kind, may be constructed at less cost. It does not...

19. CHAPTER V.

The invention of barb wire was the most important event in the solution of the fence problem. The question of providing fencing material had become serious, even in the timbered...

20. CHAPTER VI.

A very cheap fence is made of two boards below and three strands of barb wire. To make the fence pig-proof without the boards, five strands of wire, three inches apart, would be...

21. CHAPTER VII.

The first emigrants from England to the American shores brought with them memories of green hedge-rows, like those which still adorn the motherland. But they found the country w...

22. CHAPTER VIII.

Figure 118 shows a very strong and secure board fence, composed entirely of ordinary fence boards. The triangular frames, which serve as posts, are each of two pieces of inch bo...

23. CHAPTER IX.

In a situation where a line of fence crosses a stream or a gully liable to be flooded, it is necessary to make special provision for it. A fence extending down near the surface...

24. CHAPTER X.

There is quite an art in splitting logs into posts. Every post should have some heart wood, which lasts the longer, for two reasons: That there may be durable wood into which to...

25. CHAPTER XI.

As board and picket fences have gradually replaced rail and other primitive fences, useful but inconvenient “bars” have begun to disappear, and tidy gates are seen. The saving i...

26. CHAPTER XII.

Wickets and stiles are convenient passageways through or over fences crossing foot-paths. The bow wicket has the advantage of providing a gate “always open and always shut,” and...

27. CHAPTER XIII.

The common law of England, which to a large extent became the law of the original States, bound no one to fence his land at all. Every person is bound under that law to fence hi...

28. CHAPTER XIV.

Bridge building is a profession of itself, and some of the great bridges of the world are justly regarded as among the highest achievements of mechanical science and skill. But...