Chain-link fencing
type of woven metal fencing
A chain-link fence (also referred to as wire netting, wire-mesh fence, chain-wire fence, cyclone fence, hurricane fence, or diamond-mesh fence) is a type of woven fence usually made from galvanized or linear low-density polyethylene-coated steel wire. The wires run vertically and are bent into a zigzag pattern so that each "zig" hooks with the wire immediately on one side and each "zag" with the wire immediately on the other. This forms the characteristic diamond pattern seen in this type of fence.
Development of chain-link fencing
In the United Kingdom, the firm of Barnard, Bishop & Barnards was established in Norwich to produce chain-link fencing by machine. The process was developed by Charles Barnard in 1844 based on cloth weaving machines (up until that time, Norwich had a long history of cloth manufacture).
In the mid-1890s, the American Chain Link Fence Company in Medford, Massachusetts, was the first company in the United States to patent an "exclusive manufacturing process of continuous wire fabric" thanks to a patent by founder Guy Mafera which he first used to make spring beds. While sources vary on when Mafera first patented the method of forming chain link fence, his brother, Frank J. Mafera, patented a method of "forming wire fence fabric" in 1930 which made chain link fence safe and practical for residential use. It "eliminate[d] each ragged selvage, particularly at the top of the fence, without sacrificing anything of the essential strength and rigidity, of the fence itself, thus to avoid danger of injury to hands or clothing." Frank J. Mafera first sold this type of fencing from his company the Barnyard Fence Company in Raymond, New Hampshire, and his brother sold and produced the fencing at the American Chain Link Fence Company in Medford. Mafera's patent was updated in 1952, but expired in 1969 and is now used in the production of most chain link fencing.
Sizes and uses
In the United States, fencing usually comes in 20-foot (6.1 m) or 50-foot (15 m) rolls, which can be joined by "unscrewing" one of the end wires and then "screwing" it back in so that it hooks both pieces.
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