Editing Barbed wire (section)

=== 1873 meeting and initial development ===
[[file:Glidden wire the Winner2.jpg|thumb|An early handmade specimen of Glidden's "The Winner" on display at the Barbed Wire History Museum in [[DeKalb, Illinois]]]]
[[file:Patent Drawing for Joseph F. Glidden's Improvement to Barbed Wire - NARA - 302051.tif|thumb|Patent drawing for [[Joseph F. Glidden]]'s Improvement to barbed wire (24 November 1874)]]

The "Big Four" in barbed wire were [[Joseph Glidden]], [[Jacob Haish]], Charles Francis Washburn, and [[Isaac L. Ellwood]].<ref>Alan Krell, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=JSYby9zZri0C&pg=PA23 The Devil's Rope: A Cultural History of Barbed Wire]'' (London: Reaktion Books Ltd, 2002), p. 23.</ref> Glidden, a farmer in 1873 and the first of the "Big Four", is often credited for designing a successful sturdy barbed wire product, but he let others popularize it for him. Glidden's idea came from a display at a fair in [[DeKalb, Illinois]] in 1873, by Henry B. Rose. Rose had patented "The Wooden Strip with Metallic Points" in May 1873.<ref name="barbwiremuseum1">{{cite web|url=http://www.barbwiremuseum.com/barbedwirehistory.htm |title=A Brief History of Barbed Wire |access-date=July 21, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100721013911/http://www.barbwiremuseum.com/barbedwirehistory.htm |archive-date=July 21, 2010 }}, Devil's Rope Museum</ref>

This was simply a wooden block with wire protrusions designed to keep cows from breaching the fence. That day, Glidden was accompanied by two other men, Isaac L. Ellwood, a hardware dealer and Jacob Haish, a lumber merchant. Like Glidden, they both wanted to create a more durable wire fence with fixed barbs. Glidden experimented with a grindstone to twist two wires together to hold the barbs on the wire in place. The barbs were created from experiments with a coffee mill from his home.<ref name="barbwiremuseum1"/>

Later Glidden was joined by Ellwood who knew his design could not compete with Glidden's for which he applied for a patent in October 1873.<ref>{{harvnb|McCallum|1965}}, pp.&nbsp;29–32.</ref> Meanwhile, Haish, who had already secured several patents for barbed wire design, applied for a patent on his third type of wire, the S barb, and accused Glidden of interference, deferring Glidden's approval for his patented wire, nicknamed "The Winner", until November 24, 1874.<ref>{{harvnb|McCallum|1965}}, p.&nbsp;41.</ref>

Barbed wire production greatly increased with Glidden and Ellwood's establishment of the Barb Fence Company in DeKalb following the success of "The Winner". The company's success attracted the attention of Charles Francis Washburn, Vice President of Washburn & Moen Manufacturing Company, an important producer of plain wire in the Eastern U.S. Washburn visited DeKalb and convinced Glidden to sell his stake in the Barb Wire Fence Company, while Ellwood stayed in DeKalb and renamed the company I.L Ellwood & Company of DeKalb.<ref>{{harvnb|McCallum|1965}}, p.&nbsp;87.</ref>