Machine for Cleaning, Polishing, and Assorting Nuts. (open access)

Machine for Cleaning, Polishing, and Assorting Nuts.

Patent for a new and improved nut cleaner, polisher, and sorter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the nut-cleaning cylinder having the longitudinal door and transversely-arranged wire cylinders having doors, of the intermediate hopper, arranged lengthwise of the cylinder, as well as under it, and having apertures over the doors of the wire cylinders . . . and a series of sieves, successively increasing in mesh, of a perforated floor, an end plate terminating in [an] eccentric, an elevator, and a delivery spout" (lines 28-34).
Date: September 13, 1881
Creator: Koerber, Rudolph C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design "facilitate[s] the building of wire fences; and it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of the transporting bed or wagon, its spindles for the spools of wire, and its transverse windlass-rollers and their ratchets and pawls" (lines 16-21).
Date: August 2, 1881
Creator: Morter, John Letcher
System: The Portal to Texas History
Three Wheeled Vehicle. (open access)

Three Wheeled Vehicle.

Patent for a new and improved three-wheeled vehicle. This design "has an advantage over a four-wheeled vehicle in dispensing with one wheel and one or more springs. It is more readily turned than a four-wheeled vehicle, and can more easily avoid collision with other vehicles when in motion. It also offers better facilities for entering and leaving the carriage, and a vehicle for this design and of equal strength with a four-wheeled vehicle will weigh twenty to fifty pounds less" (lines 73-82).
Date: January 4, 1881
Creator: Humbert, Prosper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mechanical Motor. (open access)

Mechanical Motor.

Patent for a new and improved motor. This design "provide[s] an apparatus by means of which a series of weights or balls may be successively and continuously elevated to any given height, to be subsequently employed to operate any suitable machinery by gravitation" (lines 15-20).
Date: January 11, 1881
Creator: Conner, Laurance H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Manufacture of Hydraulic Cement and Lime. (open access)

Manufacture of Hydraulic Cement and Lime.

Patent for improvement in“the manufacture of hydraulic cement or lime form rotten or decomposed limestone” (lines 66-68).
Date: February 8, 1881
Creator: Dimelow, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump and Sprinkler. (open access)

Pump and Sprinkler.

Patent for a new and improved pump and sprinkler. This design "consists of a portable force-pump provided with a capricious air-chamber, and having on the end of its discharge-pipe a sprinkler of novel form, which causes the liquid to be ejected in a fine spray. . . . [This] provide[s] a simple, durable, and effective device, designed especially for use in sprinkling cotton-plants with poisonous solutions, to protect them against the ravages of injurious insects and worms" (lines 7-17).
Date: March 1, 1881
Creator: Polansky, Alois Josef
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design consists in "relates to machines for cutting corn and cotton stalks; and it consists in certain improvements in the construction of the same" (lines 18-21).
Date: October 4, 1881
Creator: Rhea, James C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "consists in certain improvements in the construction of [devices for cutting corn and cotton stalks] . . . [and] [t]he object of the invention is to simplify and cheapen the construction and arrangement of means for adjusting the pitch of the sides without affecting the usefulness or efficiency of the device; and to that end such means consist, essentially, in a single-rack bar, an operating-lever, and two links connecting said lever with the side bars" (lines 15-28).
Date: October 25, 1881
Creator: Horn, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hub Attaching Device. (open access)

Hub Attaching Device.

Patent for a new and improved arrangement of axles and boxes for vehicles. This design calls for a solid axle formed with a shoulder and screw-threads, an axle-box closed at its outer and provided at the other end with an annular wall, a collar formed with internal screw-threads, annular flange, bearing surface, wrench-gripe surfaces, and a cap or ring (lines 16-22).
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Warth, August
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "consists in the construction and combination of parts . . . [of] that class of machines for cutting cotton and other stalks, consisting, essentially, of parallel runners or beams carrying outwardly-projecting knives, which serve to cut the stalks as the machine is drawn over the ground" (lines 15-22).
Date: November 29, 1881
Creator: Bolliver, William S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hunting Lamp. (open access)

Hunting Lamp.

Patent for a new and improved lantern for hunting. This design "is to produce a light, cheap, and convenient lamp that can be carried upon the head with greater comfort, and at the same time be more efficient than any heretofore known" (lines 10-13).
Date: December 20, 1881
Creator: Brittan, Edward H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Press Mat. (open access)

Press Mat.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-seed-oil press mat. This design calls for three separate plates to be bound together, which allows for two pressings simultaneously. The materials (sheet metal, leather, press cloth) make for a press that is stronger, cheaper, more durable, and more effective than previous presses.
Date: June 7, 1881
Creator: Mistrot, Jean Jacques
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pressing and Drying Garments. (open access)

Pressing and Drying Garments.

Patent for pressing and drying pantaloons and garments which includes a hollow form made of sheet metal that is closed steam-tight and uses a steam pipe inside to dry the garments.
Date: October 8, 1881
Creator: Wolf, Louis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pressure Regulator for Fermented Liquids. (open access)

Pressure Regulator for Fermented Liquids.

Patent for a new and improved pressure regulator for fermented liquids. This design "has for its object to provide an improved automatic hydraulic apparatus for supplying compressed air to kegs or casks containing fermented liquids, to replace the vacuum caused by drawing off a portion of the said liquid, and thus to maintain a uniform pressure in such vessels as long as any portion of their contents remain to be drawn therefrom" (lines 8-15).
Date: December 27, 1881
Creator: Freeman, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow Colter. (open access)

Plow Colter.

Patent for a new and improved plow colter. This design calls for a colter that conforms to the face-curve of the plow shovel, thus forming a landside. The colter can be attached to and removed from either side of the plow standard.
Date: December 27, 1881
Creator: Kersh, Alvin Jacob
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump. (open access)

Pump.

Patent for a new and improved pump. This design utilizes a new combination and arrangement of cylinders, pistons, pipes, chambers, valves, screws, levers, and air and water vessels to pump water more effectively.
Date: May 31, 1881
Creator: Maney, Henry, Sr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump. (open access)

Pump.

Patent for a new and improved pump. This design "has been specially devised for use in pumping gas, air, or vapor — as in ice-machines, for instance — and mainly with reference to attaining circulation with low pressure; but when operated at high speed considerable pressure may be attained therewith, whether operating upon vapors or liquids, as . . . [the] pump involves a novel mode of operation, in that it possesses characteristics partially common to pumps of the rotary system, as well as to those having a reciprocating piston" (lines 10-21).
Date: July 19, 1881
Creator: Rose, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mold for Earth and Stone Fences. (open access)

Mold for Earth and Stone Fences.

Patent for a new and improved mold for earth and stone fences. This design "consist[s] of the inclined adjustable sides, having inclined standards, removable boards, and boards, tables, and locking-bolts . . . [and] the sides having lower boards or metallic pieces, upper removable boards or metallic pieces, and inclined standards of the tables, locking-bolts, handles, and stakes" (lines 21-30).
Date: July 26, 1881
Creator: Budd, Lewis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Method of Working Volatile Hydrates for Artificial Refrigeration. (open access)

Method of Working Volatile Hydrates for Artificial Refrigeration.

Patent for a new and improved method of working volatile hydrates for refrigeration. This invention "consists in the continuous circulation through a chamber to be refrigerated of aqueous solution of volatile matter previously cooled by the expansive elimination therefrom of a portion of said volatile matter" (lines 64-68).
Date: July 26, 1881
Creator: Rose, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Method of Working Hydrated Volatile Refrigerating Agents, and Apparatus for Ice Making and Refrigeration. (open access)

Method of Working Hydrated Volatile Refrigerating Agents, and Apparatus for Ice Making and Refrigeration.

Patent for a new method of working hydrated volatile refrigerating agents and a new refrigerator. This design "involve[s] the use of such highly volatile matters as are capable of hydration — as, for instance, ammonia, that being the refrigerating agent preferable to all others . . . [and] is a simplification in the mode of operation, and in apparatus which enables the employment of comparatively unskilled labor, the production of apparatus at comparatively low cost, and the working of the ammonia-gas at comparatively low pressure, thus obviating the dangers" (lines 13-24).
Date: August 2, 1881
Creator: Rose, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Medical Compound. (open access)

Medical Compound.

Patent for medical compound that consists of whisky, gum-guaiacum, bromide of potassium that can be used for curing Rheumatism and Neuralgia.
Date: November 29, 1881
Creator: Eaves, William Hadsil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydraulic Air-Compressor. (open access)

Hydraulic Air-Compressor.

Patent for an improved hydraulic air compressor: "The principal object of my invention is to provide the cylinder with a pressure and water regulating device" (lines 7-9).
Date: March 1, 1881
Creator: Freeman, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design has "the combination of the A-shaped frame, consisting of side pieces hinged together at their forward ends, and provided with lateral projecting knives or cutters and horizontal slots, in which work set-screws for adjusting the cross-braces, tongue or pole, hinged at its rear-end to a bracket, vertically adjustable on the front side of [the] cross-brace, and the seat-bar hinged or otherwise secured to the underside of [the] cross-brace" (lines 76-85).
Date: April 26, 1881
Creator: Horn, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut lock. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the end-cleft screw-bolt, of the wedge which is made of the same width as the diameter of the bolt, and provided with serrations corresponding to the screw-thread, and the fastening-wire which is wrapped around both bolt and wedge and lies in their respective grooves and serrations" (lines 72-78).
Date: August 23, 1881
Creator: McAllister, Lewis Campbell
System: The Portal to Texas History