Aeroplane (open access)

Aeroplane

Patent for an aeroplane. This invention does not use any mechanism to maintain the planes equilibrium. Illustration included.
Date: November 5, 1912
Creator: Goebel, Alois
System: The Portal to Texas History
COTTON-BLOCKING ATTACHMENT FOR CULTIVATORS (open access)

COTTON-BLOCKING ATTACHMENT FOR CULTIVATORS

Patent for a new attachment to cultivators that simultaneously "create equidistant hills of plants" (line 25) while cultivating each row, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 17, 1914
Creator: Wright, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a wire stretcher that is safer to use than other wire stretchers.
Date: February 7, 1911
Creator: Stewart, James Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design consists in "[t]he combination . . . of the side bars having a toothed wheel journaled between them and provided with a crank, a set of cross bars or bolts connecting the two side bars, a pawl hung upon one of the cross-bars and having its toothed end arranged to abut against the teeth of the wheel, and a chain passing over the toothed wheel and underneath the pawl" (lines 67-76).
Date: May 21, 1889
Creator: Stiles, Frederick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tuning-Hammer. (open access)

Tuning-Hammer.

Patent for improvements in tuning-hammers by using a handle having a central square hole closed at its upper end, a ferrule around its lower end adapted to receive a tool. The tool is a T shaped head having holes in the ends of its cross-bar and the end of its shank adapted to fit into the handle that can be used to tune pianos. Illustration is included.
Date: September 1, 1891
Creator: Fuchs, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design consists of "the rotating disk or circular-washboard, faced with radial ribs and operated by a crank which is supported in a plane parallel to the bottom of the box, so that the circular board shall rotate at a right angle thereto; the galvanized-sheet-iron inner box, made with a semi-cylindrical bottom to receive the circular wash-board; and the separate detachable wash-board, provided with a semicircle of radial ribs, and which fits into the sheet-iron box opposite to the circular rotating board" (lines 18-28).
Date: May 30, 1882
Creator: Fuchs, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Weight-Motor. (open access)

Weight-Motor.

Patent for a weight motor for powering various machinery.
Date: June 14, 1910
Creator: Wilson, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Wedges for Spitting Rock &c. (open access)

Improvement in Wedges for Spitting Rock &c.

Patent for improvement for a wedge. This design hollows the middle in two areas to make it easier to handle and more economical.
Date: April 24, 1875
Creator: Cosbey, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Turbine Water-Wheels. (open access)

Improvement in Turbine Water-Wheels.

Patent for a new turbine water wheel, which is said to alleviate past problems with older model turbines. The patent includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 11, 1870
Creator: Chadwick, H. A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Washing-Machines (open access)

Improvement in Washing-Machines

Patent for "... an improved washing-machine which shall be simple in construction, convenient in use, easily operated, and effective in operation." (lines 12-15)
Date: September 2, 1879
Creator: Fuchs, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Cleaning Machine. (open access)

Well Cleaning Machine.

Patent for a new well cleaning machine.
Date: April 24, 1900
Creator: Cowan, Elias H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Engine, &c. (open access)

Steam Engine, &c.

Patent for a new and improved engine. This design "connect[s] the piston-rod of the steam-cylinder with the disk or crank that is attached to the fly-wheel shaft by means of a lever, or a disk acting as such, in a manner that enables the piston-rod to operate upon its connecting-bar in a longitudinal direction . . . thereby [avoiding] angular vibration of the connecting-rod and reduc[ing] friction of sliding surfaces" (lines 15-25).
Date: December 11, 1883
Creator: Barton, Alexander M. & Davis, Philip Z.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock (open access)

Nut Lock

Patent for a nut lock. Illustration included.
Date: August 22, 1905
Creator: Marx, Ernest Max & Moses, Ealy J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk Cooler. (open access)

Milk Cooler.

Patent for a new and improved cooler. This design "consist[s] of the main vessel adapted to contain the substance to be cooled, having its upper end open and the walls of said open end drawn or inclined inward, as described, the water vessel supported on said main vessel, with a space between its bottom and the top of the main vessel, and made larger at its bottom than the upper open end of the main vessel, and the enveloping-sheet arranged to be wet by the contents of the water-vessel and extended past the space between the said vessels, whereby to protect the contents of the main vessel" (lines 79-92).
Date: June 10, 1890
Creator: Stiles, Frederick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Choppers. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Choppers.

Patent for an improvement in cotton-choppers by way of vertical rock-shafts.
Date: May 25, 1876
Creator: Burnham, Theodore O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artificial Stone (open access)

Artificial Stone

Patent for artificial stone.
Date: April 28, 1903
Creator: Gaines, Thomas Kemp
System: The Portal to Texas History
Engine. (open access)

Engine.

Patent for general "improvements in engines, and while one feature of our invention is adapted for use on all styles of engines, the invention in the complete form ...is especially suited for use on locomotive engines designed to exert high tractive power and to attain high speeds" (lines 12-19).
Date: February 19, 1895
Creator: Davis, Philip Z. & Barton, Alexander M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed-Screw for Rock-Drills. (open access)

Feed-Screw for Rock-Drills.

Patent for "drills for the cutting or drilling of stone, and has for its primary object the taking up of wear in the worm-screws upon which such drills are usually mounted." (Lines 10-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 3, 1896
Creator: Keyser, William Almond
System: The Portal to Texas History
Resilient Hub for Wheels. (open access)

Resilient Hub for Wheels.

Patent for an improved version of the Resilient Hub for Wheels, including illustrations. This design is more practical and efficient, as it eliminates the need for a pneumatic tire; rubber can be utilized instead.
Date: September 6, 1921
Creator: Wright, Thomas M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerating-Cover for Vessels. (open access)

Refrigerating-Cover for Vessels.

Patent for a "device capable of application to any receptacle which, in conjunction with an absorbent envelope and through the medium of capillary action, will cool the entire vessel or receptacle to which it is applied, and thereby preserve its contents in warm weather," (lines 10-15) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 9, 1890
Creator: Mitcheltree, James B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railway-Switch (open access)

Railway-Switch

Patent for a triple rail railway switch with improved opening and closing mechanisms.
Date: June 4, 1912
Creator: Phinney, Grover Cleveland
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railway-Tie. (open access)

Railway-Tie.

Patent for improvements in tailway-tie by “the provision of a clamping plate terminating at one end in a pair of spaced brackets that extend over the base flange of the rail, the said clamping plate being held in engagement with the base flange of the rail by a pair of spaced lugs formed with the top plate of the tie and which bear against the rear end of the clamping plate. Further, this would give greater strength and stability to the proper by seating the rail flange directly upon the top plate of the tie instead of upon the clamping plates.” (Lines 15-22) Illustration is included. This patent is related to Patent #865,354, issued on September 10, 1907 to the same inventor.
Date: January 4, 1910
Creator: Brister, William T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter (open access)

Seed Planter

Patent for a seed planter. Illustration included.
Date: September 20, 1904
Creator: Kirk, Josephus N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Whip-Socket (open access)

Whip-Socket

Patent for a whip-socket that locks the whip in place.
Date: November 26, 1912
Creator: Clark, Isom J.
System: The Portal to Texas History