BALANCE GATES.
Fig. 215.—Balance Gate.
[Figure 215] is a modernized form of a gate which has for generations been popular in New England and the Middle States. In the primitive method of construction, the top bar consisted of the smoothly trimmed trunk of a straight young tree, with the butt end projecting like a “heel” beyond the post upon which it turned. Upon its extremity a heavy boulder, or box of smaller stones, served as a counterweight. In the gate represented herewith the top stick is of sawn timber, upon the heel of which the large stone is held by an iron dowel. The other end of the top bar rests, when the gate is closed, upon an iron pin, driven diagonally into the post, as shown in the illustration. A smaller iron pin is pushed into the post immediately above the end of the top bar, to secure the gate against being opened by unruly animals, which may attempt to get in.
Fig. 216.—Carolina Balance Gate.
[Figure 216] shows a balance gate which is used in some parts of North Carolina. It is a picket gate framed into the lower side of a long pole, which is hung near its middle to a pivot driven into the top of the gate-post.
Fig. 217.—A Tidy Balance Gate.
[Figure 217] shows a more elegant form, the “heel” of the gate remaining on a level with the top line of the fence.