Haish featured in History Center's latest exhibit

I visited the DeKalb County History Center to tour their latest exhibit "The History of DeKalb County in 100 Objects," and I was pleasantly surprised to find Jacob Haish featured throughout the exhibit!

To learn more about the museum's "100 Objects" exhibit, click here.

Barbed wire creators on display, including Henry Rose of Waterman. Click photo to enlarge. | Photo by Jessi LaRue 

Barbed wire display | Photo by Jessi LaRue

Close-up of barbed wire samples from the three barons | Photo by Jessi LaRue

Text accompanying the barbed wire display | Photo by Jessi LaRue

Newspaper clipping mentions the famous county fair, where Glidden, Haish and Ellwood saw Rose's fencing exhibit | Photo by Jessi LaRue

A model of Henry Rose's fencing display. This fencing inspired Haish, Ellwood and Glidden to apply barbs directly to wire, rather than wood fencing. | Photo by Jessi LaRue

A patent section in the exhibit mentioned Sophia Haish, Jacob's wife, who patented her own improvements on the safety pin! Click the photo to enlarge. | Photo by Jessi LaRue

To read more about Henry Rose's story, click here

To learn more about Sophia Haish's safety pin patent, click here

Haish wire fence and wood gate

Haish wire fence with wood gate, owned by Jeff Marshall. | Photo by Jessi LaRue

Haish family descendant Jeff Marshall continues to bring forgotten Jacob Haish history back to life.

This Haish wire fence and wood gate is a unique item, and another piece that shows off Haish's ingenuity while inventing. Thanks to Jeff for sharing this item with us. Visit his website here.

Click to enlarge the photos and see details of the gate, patent papers, drawings and more.

Haish's manure spreader patent

Jacob Haish had the creative, working mind of an inventor. If he thought there was a better, more efficient way of doing something, he was going to create it.

And then patent it.

This patent is for a "manure spreader," which would be used to spread manure on a field for fertilizing.

The application was filed in December 1904, and awarded in November of 1905.

The patent reads: "This invention is intended to combine within itself a perfectly-regulated and easily-operable manure-spreader adapted to carry down and discharge the manure from a suitably-disposed wagon-body, the parts of which are so arranged as to be entirely under the control of the driver on the front seat, who will be enabled without moving his position to control and regulate the movement of a carrier-apron and rotary spreader and the power for actuating the same."

Click the below images to enlarge.

Page 1 | Google Patents

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More information from the patent papers can be found here.

Haish's proposed roofing improvements

Jacob Haish had the creative, working mind of an inventor. If he thought there was a better, more efficient way of doing something, he was going to create it.

And then patent it.

This patent is for "new and useful improvements in roofs." The patent was awarded July 24, 1888. There's no doubt that Haish's carpentry skills were useful while putting together this application.

Image via Google Patents

An excerpt from the patent papers reads: 

"My invention has reference to improvements in roofs; and it consists in a novel construction whereby the air is permitted to circulate under the shingles or outer coating for the purpose of preserving the material, and also to afford means of readily ventilating the interior of the building through the stratum of air between the exterior coating and the interior portion of the roof or side, which stratum, being largely stationary, has the effect also, as a [nonconductor] of heat, of [aiding] to the warmth of the roof or wall so far as relates to retaining the heat which may be within the building, but at the same time excluding from the interior any intense exterior heat, thus rendering the building warmer in cool weather and cooler in warm weather." 

To read more from the patent description, click here. 

Jacob Haish's improvements for lighting railway coaches

Jacob Haish had the creative, working mind of an inventor. If he thought there was a better, more efficient way of doing something, he was going to create it. 

And then patent it. 

The patent below is for "new and useful Improvements in Lighting Railway Coaches." The application was filed October 14, 1886, and the patent was awarded April 12, 1887. Click the below images to enlarge.

Image via Google Patents

Image via Google Patents

Image via Google Patents

An excerpt from the patent papers is below: 

"This invention relates to improvements in simultaneously lighting the interior of the railway-coach and the platform, also in using the same light for a train-signal, all as will now be fully set out and described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings." 

To read more from the patent description, click here.

Jacob Haish at the Devil's Rope Museum

The Devil's Rope Museum in McLean, Texas pays homage to the history of barbed wire, including Jacob Haish's involvement in its creation. | Photo courtesy of the Devil's Rope Museum

Nestled in the small town of McLean, Texas is the Devil's Rope Museum, where one can "get hooked" on collecting barbed wire.

The displays throughout the museum were a collaboration by multiple barbed wire collectors when they created the museum in 1991, said museum manager Leigh Anne Isbell.

"The purpose of the museum is to present and discuss ideas, come to a consensus of opinion, and publish those ideas and suggestions in an effort to continue and promote the hobby of barbed wire collecting," Isbell said. "To quote one of our original curators, 'barbed wire is an important part of history. It helped tame the West, along with windmills.'"

But even today, barbed wire's presence stretches far beyond museum walls.

"We like to think [barbed wire] is still relevant because it still being used around the world," Isbell said. "People are finding old wire on properties that are rare and hard to find. The wire itself holds a lot of history with its origins, how it became a household name, and the many uses for the wire itself is neat. I learned they used it for planting and telephone wire, not just for sectioning off land."

Featured among countless memorabilia, and of course, barbed wire, is information about Jacob Haish. Isbell shared photos, which can be found below, of Haish's presence throughout the museum.  

Photo provided by the Devil's Rope Museum

Photo provided by the Devil's Rope Museum

Photo provided by the Devil's Rope Museum

Photo provided by the Devil's Rope Museum

Photo provided by the Devil's Rope Museum

Photo provided by the Devil's Rope Museum

For more information about the Devil's Rope Museum, visit their website here or their Facebook page here. Special thanks to Isbell and the museum for sharing this information.

Jacob Haish's rein holder patent

Jacob Haish's patents included barbed wire, wire stretchers, window screens, and even rein holders.

Haish describes his 1890 patent for a "rein holder and indicating plate" in the patent papers:

"...the objects of my invention are, first, to provide a suitable plate adapted to be attached to a carriage or other vehicle in a conspicuous place for the purpose of having properly inscribed thereon the name of the owner of the vehicle, the trade-name of the latter, if there be such, or the name and location of the maker or owner, or any other advertising matter; second, to provide said plate with strong clasps so located in reference to the dash-board or other suitable part of the vehicle as that the reins may be simultaneously detachably inserted therein and removed therefrom, and, third, to attach said plate by a double-headed bolt or bolts, which shall present a finished appearance on both sides of the plate."

Click the image to enlarge.

Image via Google Patents

Jacob Haish's screen for windows patent

Jacob Haish had the creative, working mind of an inventor. If he thought there was a better, more efficient way of doing something, he was going to discover it. 

And then patent it.

The patent below is for a screen for windows, patented in 1888. Click the images to enlarge.

Image via Google Patents

Image via Google Patents

Excerpts from the patent papers are below.

"There has been much difficulty and expense in the ordinary way of manufacturing screens for doors and windows by reason of the cost and trouble in making mortises and tenons in the frame, and inapplying a molding over the edges of the wire-cloth to make a good finish, and in securing the parts together neatly, cheaply, and firmly.

The present invention is designed to afford a screen that can be made very cheaply and easily, and when made will be very handsome in structure, and will also be of less bulk or weight than any of the screens now in use; and to this end my invention consists in making mortises by bor-ing holes in the adjacent faces or ends of each sill and rail and providing loose tenons to fit into said holes, and in making a slit or groove along the inner face of the rails and sills, and then in fitting the several parts together with the edges of the wire-mesh in said grooves, and securing the structure together by means of wire staples forced into the slots."

More of his patents can be found here.

Sophia the Inventor

It appears that Jacob wasn't the only Haish who could fashion an invention with wire.

Sophia, Jacob Haish's wife, had patents on modifications to the safety pin, as seen below. 

Robert Glover, local history buff and Glidden Homestead executive director, shared this document. He said Sophia's patent was something of local lore he had heard about, but only recently looked into.

"The way I've talked about this at Glidden is that there are so many patents in DeKalb County in this period, and across history for that matter, that even Mrs. Haish, they say, had a patent," Glover said. "This doesn't even take into account those people who invented stuff and thought, "'Well, I fixed my problem, but I'm not going to mess with Chicago patent lawyers or Washington, DC.''" 

If you look closely you'll see Jacob listed as a witness on the patent.