Resource Type

Language

Band Stretcher. (open access)

Band Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved band stretcher. This design "relates to improvements in band-stretchers in which a windlass, crank, and ratchets operate in conjunction with a sliding clamp; and the object of [the] improvement is to provide a device with which the ends of a band may be drawn together and held for the purpose of lacing" (lines 15-21).
Date: February 23, 1886
Creator: Lawrence, Joseph A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Use in Dry Out-Houses (open access)

Apparatus for Use in Dry Out-Houses

Patent for the construction of an improved odorless apparatus for dry out-houses, including explications and illustrations.
Date: March 23, 1886
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Shears. (open access)

Animal Shears.

Patent for new and improved animal shears. This design is "of a platinum or other wire or conductor heated to a high temperature, sufficient to burn through the fibers of the wool or hair, and [is] passed over the surface of the body as close as may be deemed desirable to the roots. No injurious effects are produced upon the animal or upon the wool or hair removed, while at the same time the same may be removed with great uniformity and expedition" (lines 28-36).
Date: June 8, 1886
Creator: Harrell, Joseph J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti-Friction Wagon Slide. (open access)

Anti-Friction Wagon Slide.

Patent for a new and improved anti-friction wagon slide. This design "consists of flat side pieces provided with bolt-holes near their ends, and connected to diametrically-opposite points of nearly-cylindrical end pieces, which have holes through their axes for the reception of the roller-shaft. The recess is so formed that the lower portion of the end pieces shall bear against its ends when the frame is put in place. This arrangement, together with the bolts through the corners of the frame and the coupling-tongue, prevents any tendency of the frame to displacement" (lines 42-54).
Date: July 27, 1886
Creator: Jowell, George Ratcliff.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Appliance for Training Horses. (open access)

Appliance for Training Horses.

Patent for a new and improved appliance for training horses. This design "consists, essentially, in a leg-halter composed of chains or ropes connected by a common ring, or otherwise, and connected with gyves or shackles to encircle the pastern of each leg, a yoke or frame placed upon the withers, or forward or back thereof, and provided with a clamp, and a band passing through the clamp and down to one of the shackles, or to the horse's leg, the other end being carried to a convenient point to be passed by the trainer or attendant" (lines 9-20).
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Dodge, Israel Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Forcing Beer from Kegs. (open access)

Apparatus for Forcing Beer from Kegs.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for forcing beer from kegs. This design "relates to an improved method of keeping atmospheric pressure upon beer or other aerated liquid contained in a keg or similar receptacle, so as to prevent the same from becoming stale or flat from the evaporating of its dissolved gas. It consists in improvements in the apparatus by means of which the above-stated result is accomplished; and it further consists in the construction and novel arrangement of parts" (lines 16-25).
Date: September 14, 1886
Creator: Surratt, George & Heyman, Harry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Planter and Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Planter and Chopper.

Patent for planting and chopping cotton.
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Pitts, Lee Paschal
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design "has for its object the production of a simple, cheap, and effective device whereby the ants are confined to a space within the circle of the trap, speedily captured, and exterminated. It consists in a trap constructed with a circular flanged pit provided with tubes leading therefrom to a central ant-receptacle; also, in the details of construction of the trap" (lines 8-16).
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Barnes, Robert Hanson & Salles, George Camiel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Commode. (open access)

Commode.

Patent for an integrated air-venting commode.
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Bardon, Prosper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Air Ship. (open access)

Air Ship.

Patent for air ship design lifted by balloon with vertical adjustable sails. Accompanied with illustrations.
Date: November 23, 1886
Creator: Appling, Marby P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Extracting Oils (open access)

Apparatus for Extracting Oils

Patent for a new and useful improvement "in a novel process and combination of devices or apparatus for extracting the oil from cotton seeds and other oil bearing seeds" (lines 8-12). Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 14, 1886
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insecticide. (open access)

Insecticide.

Patent for an inflammable compound for exterminating destructive insects and animals that contains alkanet-root, arsenious acid, gum-camphor, iodine resubl., phosphorus, sulphur resubl., and bisulphide carbon.
Date: January 8, 1886
Creator: Shugart, T. Woodward. & Clifton, Charley D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locking Device for Baling Press Doors. (open access)

Locking Device for Baling Press Doors.

Patent for a new and improved lock for baling-press doors. This design "is to provide a . . . locking device for the doors of the baling chamber of a baling-press, which locking device is so constructed that all the doors can be locked in a single operation and by means of the same device, and may be loosened simultaneously" (lines 8-14).
Date: February 16, 1886
Creator: Clark, Frank S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle Wheel (open access)

Vehicle Wheel

Patent for Vehicle-Wheel. "I am enabled to produce a wheel which can be put together, taken apart, repaired, renewed or tightened, with no tools or appliances other than a wrench, and by persons wholly unskilled in the manufacture of wheels in the ordinary way." (lines 13-18)
Date: April 6, 1886
Creator: Horrne, Henry M. & Rutherford, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Wheel (open access)

Vehicle-Wheel

Patent for an improved wheel for vehicles, with description of parts and illustrations.
Date: April 6, 1886
Creator: Horrne, Henry M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Magneto-Telephonic Apparatus (open access)

Magneto-Telephonic Apparatus

Patent for an invention to improve transmitting vocals and other sounds. It is a magneto telephonic system based on an magnetic field of high intensity.
Date: May 4, 1886
Creator: Brown, Fred. H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Two Wheeled Vehicle. (open access)

Two Wheeled Vehicle.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle. This design "is to provide a vehicle in which a person can ride over rough ground without serious inconvenience or discomfort incident to travel over such roads. . . . [and] to so construct a gig that a person can get into the same without serious inconvenience, and to this end it is made low, the rear of the shafts being extended in line with the axle and the step secured to the shaft and extending somewhat below it. . . . [and] to provide a gig with springs that will work in two directions—laterally and vertically" (lines 20-34).
Date: May 11, 1886
Creator: Buckel, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the boiler having the transverse rollers, of the [other] roller having peripheral corrugations and the intermediate slots, the bail, and the counterweight whereby the roller may be balanced on the end wall of the boiler" (lines 85-90).
Date: May 18, 1886
Creator: Pinkerton, John Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Leaf Turner. (open access)

Leaf Turner.

Patent for a new and improved leaf-turner for sheet music. This design consists "of a rack having attached guides, the horizontally-slidable rods arranged in said guides, one above the other, the leaf-turning fingers carried by one end of said rods, the elastic cords connected with the other ends of said rods for retracting the fingers, devices for holding the rods against the tension of the cords, and a finger-piece for successively disengaging said holding devices" (lines 56-64).
Date: July 6, 1886
Creator: Richards, Augustus, Sr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Landside Cutter for Plows. (open access)

Landside Cutter for Plows.

Patent for a new and improved landside cutter for plows. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a colter . . . and the landside attachment secured to the landside of the plow, the said landside attachment having the laterally-extending cutting-wing . . . the plate in front of the landside attachment, and the colter on the front edge of the said plate" (lines 66-75).
Date: September 21, 1886
Creator: Reed, Benjamin B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Building and Rerolling Wire Fences. (open access)

Machine for Building and Rerolling Wire Fences.

Patent for "improvement in machines for building and rerolling wire fences" (lines 4-6), with instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 5, 1886
Creator: Edge, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ironing Table. (open access)

Ironing Table.

Patent for a new and improved ironing board. This design consists in "the rigid supporting-frame of an ironing-table, a cross-piece secured to the outside of the upper ends of the supports at one end of the frame, so that its upper edge shall project above the supports, an ironing-board top hinged to one side of the cross-piece, and a shelf secured to the upper edge and projecting to the opposite side of said cross-piece" (lines 86-94).
Date: October 19, 1886
Creator: Adair, Annie E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kneading Machine. (open access)

Kneading Machine.

Patent for a new and improved kneading machine. This design consists in "the elevated upright rollers having grooves near their lower ends, of the tray or receptacle having the surrounding ring or track entering the said grooves of said rollers and supporting said tray in an elevated position" (lines 73-78).
Date: November 23, 1886
Creator: Hughes, James F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lifting Device. (open access)

Lifting Device.

Patent for a new and improved jack. This design "relates to devices for raising fence-corners in repairing the same, and for lifting weights generally; and the object of [the] invention is to produce a simple and powerful device whereby a single operator can greatly increase his [or her] capacity for lifting heavy objects" (lines 8-14).
Date: November 30, 1886
Creator: McNabb, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History