swing-bar

“This, however, he scarcely ventured to do; and all he could see as he lay was the tip of the swing-bar of one of the flails, ever as it reached the highest point of its ascent.”

Sir Gibbie

“It is faithfully built, but instead of the numerous common roads which cross it being carried over or under its track, as the English Railroads are, they are closed on each side by a swing-bar, at which a guard is stationed -- a plan which saves expense at the outset, but involves a heavy permanent charge.”

Glances at Europe In a Series of Letters from Great Britain, France, Italy, Switzerland, &c. During the Summer of 1851.

“They are from six to seven feet high -- sometimes higher -- and are formed by laying long split logs one over another diagonally, by which simple process the necessity of nails or uprights is avoided; and as wood is dirt-cheap, the additional length caused by their diagonal construction is of no importance; -- but, being all loose, they are as awkward to leap as a swing-bar, which those who have once got a cropper at, are not anxious to try again.”

Lands of the Slave and the Free Cuba, the United States, and Canada