Joseph Glidden receives the patent for barbed…

Joseph Glidden receives the patent for barbed wire in 1874 and is quickly embroiled in a legal battle over whether he had actually invented it.

He eventually wins and creates the Barb Fence Company in DeKalb, Illinois; his invention will make him extremely rich.

Born in Charlestown, New Hampshire of English descent, Glidden's family later moved to Clarendon, New York.

In 1843, he had moved to Illinois with his wife Clarissa Foster.

She and her two sons had died after the move, and Glidden had married Lucinda Warne in 1851.

Glidden creates barbed wire by using a coffee mill to create the barbs, placing the barbs along a wire, then twisting another wire around it to keep the barbs in place.