USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Glidden’s patent, prevailing in both litigation and sales, was soon known as “the winner.” Today, it remains the most familiar style of barbed wire. The widespread use of barbed wire changed life on the Great Plains dramatically and permanently.

Detailed explanation-2: -In 1874, Glidden patented the first practical design for barbed wire. The invention dramatically reduced the costs of separating cattle from crops and thus the costs of enforcing property rights to land.

Detailed explanation-3: -Joseph Glidden’s innovative barbed wire was essential to the settlement of the American plains in the late nineteenth century. It proved to be an effective method of securely enclosing one’s property, thereby keeping cattle in and trespassers out.

Detailed explanation-4: -Patented December 14, 1875 by Henry N. Frentress of Dunleith, Illinois. Kinked single-strand wire with four-point barb.

Detailed explanation-5: -Barbed wire played a central role in the development of the Wild West. The “Devil’s Rope” transformed the plains from an expansive open range into a set of defined and enforced tracts of cattle land and farm ground, buttressing property rights and facilitating a boom in economic productivity.