Lamp Holder. (open access)

Lamp Holder.

Patent for a new and improved lamp-holder. This design relates to "brackets for supporting lamps and other like articles; and it has for its object to provide a device of this character which shall be adjustable in various directions and extensible" (lines 15-19). It consists "of a casting having a rectangular portion provided with holes and from which extend parallel horizontal ears, the horizontal tubular arm formed at its inner end with enlargement arranged between the ears, the vertical pin passed through holes in said ears and a coincident hole in said enlargement intersecting the bore of the arm" (lines 18-26).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Jefferson, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stirrup Leather Stay. (open access)

Stirrup Leather Stay.

Patent for a new and improved stirrup-leather stays. This design "is to provide a stay which will cause the stirrup to hang in proper position for insertion of the rider's foot in the mounting; and the invention consists in a stay the body of which is U-shaped in cross-section to receive the stirrup cross-bar and provided with a loop on its convex side at the bottom for the stirrup leather or strap" (lines 13-20).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Padgitt, Jesse D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the plow-beam and plow, of the semicircular stay-brace pivotally secured to the beam at one end and at the other end formed with a slot and a horizontal portion extending across the top of the beam, the bolt passed through the slot into the beam, the colter, and the adjustable wedge-shaped block having a plurality of depressions upon its inner face to receive the horizontal portion of the brace" (lines 81-90).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Dickerman, Lewis M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pulley Hub. (open access)

Pulley Hub.

Patent for a new and improved pulley-hub. This design "relates . . . to the means employed for attaching the hubs thereof firmly but removably to the shaft upon which the pulleys are mounted; and the object of the invention is to effect improvements upon the well-known 'spline-and-groove' connection. To this end the invention consists of a hub having upon its interior two outwardly-tapering grooves, wedges moving within said grooves, and a screw having a pointed tip passing between the inner ends of the wedges to separate them" (lines 8-20).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Collier, William Reid
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists, "with a draw-head and a pin held to slide vertically therein, of a lever pivotally connected with the said link and fulcrumed on the draw-head, a chain connected with the said lever, an eye through which passes said chain, an arm connected with the inner end of the said chain, and a transversely-extending shaft mounted to turn in suitable bearings in the car-body and carrying the said arm" (lines 15-24).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Onzon, François P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the standard, the supporting-arm secured thereon and consisting of a stationary member, a swinging member hinged thereto, a latch secured to the swinging member and engaging the stationary member, and the slotted arm secured to the stationary member and passing around the swinging member, and the dasher-rods supported by and between the members of said arms" (lines 18-27).
Date: October 14, 1890
Creator: Lancaster, John L.
System: The Portal to Texas History