GATE. 
-- In refpect to the faftening it is obferved by the ne writer, 
th: at moft blackfmiths. have 1 favourite. notions of the 
only nec eceflury 
The 
at fic. s remarkably y for a horfe- 
d as Fret. if not impoflible, to be opened 
i i a ean is amnithed with 
e gate, through 
he latch paffes, is finifhed with eee on sfodicheons, 
hke thofe feon at Jig: 22, the fattening ‘being completed 
with the catch 21, alas a button‘in the place of the ring. 
fig. 20..is a common peg-latch for the head of a gate, 
with a guard to ana it faf er for cattle, which might run 
againft it when the gate i 
: gs ut in- 
meee for, horfemen, a alas fo for thofe who 
are not accultomed to it. ig. 21. is the Sr es eas to 
the latch,- .22. . ig. 22. reprefents two. fheet-iron 
efc utcheons, and a pattern for a ftrong latch, are is ex- 
ecuted in caft-iron 3-4ths of an se thick. Fig. 23. is the 
catch belonging to fig. 19, t made alfo of catt-iron, 
i inch thic i 24.18 a lp a a peg, of which the 
itud paffes thr ough th r hol ti re) 
upper ale and the oe cannot be detached from the 
hafp : this be made very ufeful in the fold-yard, &c.”’ 
"The aie flates, that « the double drop catch, figs 25, 
has been ufed for fome time in parts of Shropfhire and 
staffordfhirc, and that he took no fi 
ie adapte d it for fitting an an 
26 is an horizontal fe&tion, and the f{crew- 
is made to anfwer two —— : ma ot f atacing the iron 
work more’ firmly t oft, and alfo of returning the 
points of the dro ne ere as of fon as on her of them is 
driven upw wards by the latch, the catch being thus inftantly 
repulfed into its former politi on, before the gate. has time 
to recoil beyond it.” It is fuppofed, that. this “ fort of 
d for a Be ie which, having been 
opened either way, “alls to its line of re ; 
from paffing it by the cbiracion - one of the catcl 
i if e latch, mee again, 
- he ** afterwards 
ate to 
5 is. 27, in which re conceived that he 
nad been pene fueceist 
‘ It was next to . ne what kind of latch was 
mott proper for thcfe catches, and he found that the beft 
contrivances for bailing. cattle were apt to puzzle his vi- 
fitors, “ee convenience was enti itled to a -fhare of his atten- 
H be drive 
r catc 1 
and the gate is pepo! faften ” 
h 
are ae a in ae firure. 
handle to the drop, fiz 275 bu 
fill infift upon it that it was a two-handed faftening, and 
y inconvenient for  horfemen; he th herefore foon 
continued the peg, in regard. to 
though he approves of it for fome purpofes.”’ hink: 
it certainly never can he opened hy cattle, and it would 
be eafy enough fora horfeman to open, nee e became 
acquainted with it; yet. fhould he take falt hold of the . 
handle of the catch with the fore part of the hand, as might 
be expected, in raifing the drop, he will detach that hand 
from as gate, and he muit then feck the aid of his other; 
though by placing the thumb or palm of the hand upon 
the. drop-cateh, and rete erving. the full liberty, of his eae 
p 
he may open the gate very well with one hand; but w en 
the catch is upon the. contrary fide of the gate to that of 
the horfeman, it hes not be quite: fo ap ae for the 
fingers or fore-part of the hand muft in pak e be em- 
ployed upon the pen while the thumb opens Gis gate. 
A great advantage may be ee i) havi ae the iron peg 
haat as_reprefented at figs. 29 30, which will re- 
move the objection to its being in on way dangerous; and 
while it facilitates. the opening of the es with ¢ e hand; 
it throws a frefn difficulty in the way of cattle. 
ut * the iron-peg latch would not, however, entve for 
the fwing-gate, and he has fupplied its place by the ied 
latch A, in fige. » the principle of which is not uncommon ;- 
the part O forms a moit complete guard to the latch, and 
the handle, being a femicircular ring, refts upon a upper 
ate, or upon the fecond bar, making it ex- 
tremely improbable that a cow or horfe could ever ‘itt up a 
latch of this kind.” But that «for a fwing-gate the latch 
fhould ke placed as nearly as poffible tothe middle part of 
the head, that the gate may the better refift the jar of its 
fhutting ; for the {fudden een which the drop-catches 
give to a fwing- ce is greater 
nary fattenings; and if the cok 
top of the hea d of the gate, it w eae on as 
the:common manner of hanging fingle ga 
After “having finifhed tra ae a friend aflured 
him, that he ha 
Ww. 
eftrudtive as 
of thofe which he had firft feen in ‘Shrop fhire.”? But, « 
the courfe of an extenfive tour he made, es ek occafion to 
ve uimiecous in ae of ae ae : at fhould thefe 
ae ever find their way fo e hopes that public as well 
8 private oS in fach relpeet may th gi be hea 
moted. He fawac atch, fimilar to fig. 31; evon 
and the latch ufed an it was a kind of iron ee nailed . 
the inner fide of the top rail of the gate; but there is a 
cera he thinks, to any catch receiving the latch above 
e€ pivot upon which the catch turns: fucha faftening, if 
the gate finks but very ong will gradually become ufele efs, 
which gives an undou preference to the other drop-’ 
catches ; as with then ate muft fink two inches (which 
one that is V — ane never ought to do) before the catch 
will ceafe to att. 
«c ie t is very material, he thinks, that the iron peg fhou 
reft clofe again{t the gate-pott, as that would very fauen 
increafe the difficulty complained of in opening a gate with 
thefe faftenings; the middle part of the head of the gate, as 
to its thicknels, is the fitteft to receive the iron peg, whether 
it is KS be placed high or low, and the pla ay of the catch will. 
e fame mn all inflances, provided its fhoulderi ing is 
eae accordingly. 
The writer ftates that “* the double catch ae 32,1 is ufed 
at this time in feveral parts of Shrop hhire,- with the latch 
adjoining it made to rife upon a pivot... The hollow part 
of the latch is in fhape’and fize like a table-fpoon, with a 
hole drilled through it to prevent » ‘rain: lodging there; a 
{wing-gate with this faltening is.opened either by the hand 
prefiing down ee hollow part of the latch, or on borfeback 
you may put: ick, or the butt:end of. a whip into it, and 
with only one exertion ee ey be thrown open ; ‘ts 
the 
. 
/ 
