Solstice

The Solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice, once in summer and once in winter, each year when the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North or South Pole. During Solstices the tilt of the axis of the Earth (with respect to the Sun) is the maximum at 23° 26′.

Solstices occur on 20th or 21st June and 21st or 22nd December each year. During summer the day of the solstice is the longest day of the year and during winter the day of the solstice is the shortest day of the year.

During June it is Summer Solstice in the Northern hemisphere and Winter Solstice in the Southern hemisphere. In other words on June Solstice it is summer time in the UK, the USA, Canada, Russia, India, and China and it is the longest day of the year while it is winter time in Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa and it is the shortest day of the year.

Similarly, during December it is Winter Solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and Summer Solstice in the Southern hemisphere. In other words, during December Solstice it is winter time in the UK, the USA, Canada, Russia, India and China and it is the shortest day of the year while it is summer time in Australia, Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and South Africa and it is the longest day of the year.

Star picket posts

Old Plains post

In my search to find out how old a  ring lock fence was, I started to look at the star picket posts.

What I found is that the design rights of star pickets are (was) owned by  OneSteel Manufacturing Pty Ltd on the  09/12/ 2004 which ran out on the 09/12/ 2014

Registration AU 304602
Appln/Design 200415706

See Here…   for further details.

The invention of the star picket post goes to  William James Todhunter and Howard Morton Slater and patented by Rylands Brothers (Australia) Limited “Improvements in steel posts and droppers for wire fences.” Australian patent 4,058/26. 1 October 1926.

See Here… for further details.

You can take a look at the original patent:  Rylands Brothers (Australia) Ltd 1926 Improvements in steel posts and droppers for wire fences 26-4058

So it looks like my star picket fence can’t be older than 1926.