Resource Type

Language

Banana-Case (open access)

Banana-Case

Patent for a banana case to "provide a case or crate in which bananas may be readily packed and transported without injury to the fruit."
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Aiken, Robert H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant-Trap. (open access)

Ant-Trap.

Patent for an ant-trap with an inflexible bottom with a hole in the middle, a perpendicular section rough on the inside and smooth on the outside, and the perpendicular smooth sides are attached to the edges of the bottom. The trap has a device that prevents the ants from running around the trap.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Carter, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Route-Indicator. (open access)

Route-Indicator.

Patent for an improved route indicator for automobiles "which not only visually indicates the characteristics and risks of the road" but in addition provides an "auditory signal to call attention to approaching hazards or dangers" (lines 36-41). Illustrations included.
Date: November 13, 1917
Creator: Cranmer, Howard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Chain-Link. (open access)

Chain-Link.

Patent for a harness ring for connecting and disconnecting from other fastening hooks, chains, or rings, including illustration.
Date: November 13, 1860
Creator: Kirk, John P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vapor-Condensing Apparatus. (open access)

Vapor-Condensing Apparatus.

Patent for a vapor condensing system that utilizes a mixing chamber and several coils of tubing to produce a cooling effect. The application is suitable for ice machines, refrigeration plants and other systems.
Date: November 13, 1917
Creator: Phillips, John Ernst
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Seed-Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Seed-Planters.

Patent for "revolving-cylinder seed-planters; and its object is to furnish a strong and durable implement adapted to plant with precision various kinds of seed, and the wheels of which are not liable to become clogged with earth." (Lines 12-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 13, 1877
Creator: Burris, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "has for its object to produce a machine which shall possess superior advantages in point of simplicity, durability, and general efficiency. To this end it consists in certain improvements in the construction of the same" (lines 10-14).
Date: November 13, 1883
Creator: Snider, John J. & O'Bannon, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve (open access)

Valve

Patent for a valve for the improvement of flushing water in tanks. Development and use are within text; includes illustrations to demonstrate the object of the patent.
Date: November 13, 1917
Creator: Cahill, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Preventing Clogging of the Working Barrels of Pumps. (open access)

Means for Preventing Clogging of the Working Barrels of Pumps.

Patent for an apparatus that prevents the clogging of the working barrels of pumps.
Date: November 13, 1917
Creator: Carmichael, Robert E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stamp Sticking or Sealing Machine. (open access)

Stamp Sticking or Sealing Machine.

Patent for a stamp sticking or sealing machine that is meant "to provide a device with a moistening pad capable of applying moisture to the mucilage of the stamps, and with a guide or way through which the stamps may be passed, and by which they are guided to and past the moistening pad; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction whereby the device is made capable of easier manipulation, whereby it may be held in one hand so as to cause the stamps to make contact with the pad, thus leaving the other hand of the operator free to draw the stamps over the pad and to affix them" (lines 8-21).
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Shaw, James Tyus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump-Strainer. (open access)

Pump-Strainer.

Patent for a pump strainer for liquid wells that excludes sand and other foreign matter before it can foul the pump or wear its parts.
Date: November 13, 1900
Creator: Stukes, John Marion
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter Attachment for Plows (open access)

Planter Attachment for Plows

Patent for a combined cotton, corn, and sugar-cane planter attachment for plows, which is intended "to provide a simple, cheap, and automatically operating planting attachment for plows which may be used for the planting of seeds of various kinds, as cotton, corn, sugar-cane, and the like, and which may be readily attached to and detached from a plow."
Date: November 13, 1900
Creator: Riewe, Friedrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Digger (open access)

Post Hole Digger

Patent for a post hole digger with an illustration.
Date: November 13, 1906
Creator: Wall, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mud Shoe. (open access)

Mud Shoe.

Patent for a new and improved mud shoe. This design has for its object "to provide a device adapted to be worn over the ordinary boot or shoe and afford a convenient means for keeping the same out of the mud, dirt, or water; and the novelty consists in the detail of the construction and combination of the several parts" (lines 18-24).
Date: November 13, 1883
Creator: Carroll, Samuel T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Telephone. (open access)

Telephone.

Patent for a simple and effective magneto telephone with a newly designed apparatus that allows the telephone to better receive and transmit calls and "will receive its magnetism from the magnets of the magneto call" (lines 21-22).
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Serdinko, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Thill Coupling (open access)

Thill Coupling

Patent for a thill coupling. Illustration included.
Date: November 13, 1906
Creator: Barry, Jefferson D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine (open access)

Washing Machine

Patent for washing machine. This invention consists of two compartments: one for suds and rinsing water; the other to provide a washing drum. Illustration included.
Date: November 13, 1906
Creator: Leavens, Robert E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame. (open access)

Hame.

Patent for a new and improved hame. This design "has relation to hames, and more particularly to the means of securing the hames adjustable to each other, and for connecting the usual parts of the harness thereto; and among the objects in view are to provide an easily-manipulated serviceable hame connection that may be adjusted to fit any sized collars, and which may be constructed at a minimum cost" (lines 11-19).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Anderson, Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sweep for Corn and Cotton Cultivators. (open access)

Sweep for Corn and Cotton Cultivators.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator sweep. This design "compris[es] a long thin blade, having its front end bent downward and rearward, forming a lip adapted to take into the earth . . . [and] the combination of the beam, the standards secured thereto, and the blade having the projections secured to the standards and having the downward and rearward turned lip at its front end" (lines 59-68).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Cowan, Elias
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a gate that improves "the construction of sliding gates, and to provide a simple and inexpensive one, which will be positive and reliable in its operation, and which may be opened and closed a distance from it approaching it in either direction, without dismounting or leaving a vehicle" (lines 10-16). It also prevents farm animals from passing through when the gate is closed.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Smith, Stansbury J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Envelope-Machine (open access)

Envelope-Machine

Patent for "a machine for making envelopes, paper bags, and similar receptacles from paper and other like materials" (lines 7-9).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Clarke, George R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Swing. (open access)

Swing.

Patent for a swing that consists of a frame, a wooden horse to ride on, a U-shaped hanger that is attached to the seat in the back and front, a pulley-like rocker attached to the top of the frame, a bolt that is securing the rocker to the hanger, two bars that go from the horse seat to the pulley, and a chord that attaches the two bars and goes around the top of the pulley.
Date: November 13, 1894
Creator: Alston, Samuel I.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed-Planter. (open access)

Seed-Planter.

Patent for improvement of seed planter "adapted for the planting of various kinds of seeds" (lines 10-11) and addition of tilting movements, including illustrations.
Date: June 25, 1900
Creator: Wendtland, Wilhelm & Wunderlich, W. F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screen (open access)

Screen

Patent for a screen for doors that can be shipped and sold in a manner that it can be readily assembled. Illustration included.
Date: November 13, 1906
Creator: Pinkham, Delmar D.
System: The Portal to Texas History