A Prickly First
On June 25, 1867, the first patent for barbed wire was awarded to Lucien B. Smith of Kent, Ohio. The design was quite different from today’s barbed wire. Smith’s design incorporated intermittently spaced fire-resistant spools with 4 radiating spikes…strung on taunt wires between tapered iron posts. No examples of Smith’s barbed wire have been found, so it is uncertain if it was ever manufactured.
Diagram from U.S. Patent No. 66,182
