Jacob Haish (March 9, 1826 – February 19, 1926) was one of the first inventors of
barbed wire
A close-up view of a barbed wire
Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is ...
. His type of barbed wire was in direct competition with the other barbed wire manufacturers in
DeKalb, Illinois
DeKalb ( ) is a city in DeKalb County, Illinois, United States. The population was 43,862 according to the 2010 census, up from 39,018 at the 2000 census. The city is named after decorated Franconia
Franconia (german: Franken, ; Franconi ...
. He was a known carpenter and architect in DeKalb County and designed several prominent DeKalb homes.
[Bigolin, Steve]
The Landmarks of Barb City - Part 43C
''Daily Chronicle'', 7 March 2005. Retrieved 21 February 2007.
Early life
Haish was born in
Baden, Germany
The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918.
It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...
on March 9, 1826, and immigrated with his family to the United States in 1835.
He came to Illinois in 1845, married Sophie Ann Brown in 1847, and moved to DeKalb in 1853, where he was a carpenter.
[ He cultivated ]osage orange
''Maclura pomifera'', commonly known as the Osage orange ( ), is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, native to the south-central United States. It typically grows about tall. The distinctive fruit, a multiple fruit, is roughly spherical, b ...
hedges whose thorns made them effective as cattle fencing.
The birth of barbed wire
In late 1872, Henry Rose developed a wire fence with an attached wooden strip containing projecting wire points to dissuade encroaching livestock. He patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
ed his fence in May 1873 and exhibited it at the DeKalb County Fair that summer. This prompted Haish and other DeKalb residents Isaac Ellwood and Joseph Glidden
Joseph Farwell Glidden (January 18, 1813 – October 9, 1906) was an American businessman and farmer. He was the inventor of the modern barbed wire. In 1898, he donated land for the Northern Illinois State Normal School in DeKalb, Illinois, which ...
to work on improving the concept. Haish had patented three styles of barbed fencing by June 1874. When Haish's patent for an "S-barb" design was granted in August 1875, he launched a drawn out legal battle to stymie his rivals. It failed at the US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
in 1895.
Haish gifts a library
In 1893, the city council of DeKalb, Illinois, decreed the establishment of a public library.Lincoln Highway
The Lincoln Highway is the first transcontinental highway in the United States and one of the first highways designed expressly for automobiles. Conceived in 1912 by Indiana entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, and formally dedicated October 31, 19 ...
.
Jacob Haish died at his home in DeKalb on February 19, 1926.[ He had bequested a $150,000 gift for a library building in his will. The result was the Haish Memorial Library in downtown DeKalb.
]
See also
* George H. Gurler House
* Joseph F. Glidden House
References
External links
Jacob Haish biographical timeline
*
About the Library
DeKalb Public Library
built in 1884, demolished in 1961
Haish patents
* – Jacob Haish, DeKalb, Illinois, ''Improvement in Wire Fences'' – "spirally wrapped wires, the ends being hooked together to form projecting spikes" (January, 1874)
* – ''Improvement in Barbed Fences'' – "sheet metal pronged attachments", riveted or nailed to fence rails (February, 1874)
* – ''Barbed-Wire Fences'' – "twisted wires and spirally interwoven metallic strip having projecting spurs" (June, 1874)
* – ''Improvement in Wire-fence Barbs'' – "single piece of wire bent into the form of the letter S" so that both strands are clasped (August, 1875) This improvement was the foundation for Haish's successful business.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Haish, Jacob
19th-century American inventors
People from DeKalb, Illinois
American architects
1826 births
1926 deaths