Joseph Glidden
Don't get caught up in the sharp wire of history
Joseph Glidden's Amazing Fact
Well, if you want to know about the barbed wire you have to know who invented it; this inventor was named Joseph Glidden. He was born January 18th, 1813, in Charlestown, New Hampshire. There are also some pretty amazing things about this guy named Joseph Glidden. His sharp wire invention made him extremely wealthy, so wealthy that when he died in 1906 he was one of the richest men in America. But like some people say, there’s no short cuts to great achievements.
Glidden's Abilities
He had some good skills in using his hands and those skills helped him to twist a 2nd wire around a first smooth wire which was very difficult to achieve or do because it would usually slip or unwind itself. That’s why it took more than one try to succeed. But even with all that, he still had to improve the barbed wire for harsh western conditions.
Design Improvement
Well, even though Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire, he wasn’t the only one. Michal Kelly did it too. Like they say, great minds think alike. Michal Kelly just did a different design. A lot of inventors wanted to improve Kelly’s design and Joseph Glidden was one of them. When Joseph Glidden improved Kelly’s idea it was so good it was named the Winner. Glidden really made barbed wire more effective.
Different Uses for Barbed Wire
Joseph Glidden was considered a great inventor of the Industrial Revolution, but where he mostly was called a great inventor of the Industrial Revolution was in the West where most people used the invention. In those days, people used barbed wire for keeping animals or cattle from trampling over their crops or fields, but when it shut off the way for cattle to roam the fields it also shut off the freedom for cowboys to roam the plains and drive cattle. Today, his invention is used a lot more in prisons all over the world and around storage or warehouse sites. It is even used in some wars to divide territories or to make peace today.
Types of Barbed Wire
Picture of Mr. Joseph Glidden
Mr. Glidden's Types of Barbed Wire Invented
US Steel Manufacturing Company
Barbed Wire Uses for Ranches in Texas
Barbed Wire Uses in World War I
Barbed Wire uses in Concentration Camps
work cited
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myiRDhkteL0
http://www.gliddenhomestead.org/index.html
http://xroads.virginia.edu/~class/am485_98/cook/develp.htm#stage
http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/weapons-equipment-uniform/87-barbed-wire-on.html - Barbed Wire On the Western Front
http://web.educastur.princast.es/cp/fresneda/colegio/biblioteca/investigamos/TEREZIN/HITLER%20COMES%20TO%20POWER.htm - Hitler Comes to Power
Growth of a Nation Social Studies Textbook written by Scott Foresman