Language

Animal-Trap. (open access)

Animal-Trap.

Patent for an animal trap meant to trap animals that burrow in the ground, such as prairie dogs. The trap catches the animal when it leaves its den and the animal cannot escape the trap.
Date: April 25, 1893
Creator: Manning, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Air-Pipe Coupling. (open access)

Air-Pipe Coupling.

Patent for an improved air-pipe coupling that is airtight and watertight and has a flexible union for railroad cars.
Date: May 2, 1893
Creator: Thomas, James Bryant
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Freezing Wine. (open access)

Apparatus for Freezing Wine.

Patent for a device that cools wine and liquor. The device "will produce the desired results in much shorter time than is now employed by the common method and apparatus" (lines 11-14).
Date: May 9, 1893
Creator: Wadhams, Arthur
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal-Trap. (open access)

Animal-Trap.

Patent for an improved animal trap that can catch a large variety of animals, including fish, and does not injure the animals. Bait is placed in the trap, and the door on one end is spring-activated. A hinged door on the top is where the operator can take out the animal.
Date: July 18, 1893
Creator: Crockett, William E. & McAdams, Richard E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cattle-Guard. (open access)

Cattle-Guard.

Patent for a simple cattle guard for railroads "which may be applied conveniently and economically to a cattle gap, and which will prevent cattle from getting their legs caught between the sleepers above the gap, which will also prevent cattle from passing over the gap, and which will frighten the cattle from the track" (lines 16-22).
Date: July 18, 1893
Creator: Hills, Lorenzo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Harrow and Cultivator. (open access)

Combination Harrow and Cultivator.

Patent for a combined harrow and cultivator that can easily change between the two. It consists of a beam with front and back removable tooth-seats, handles, adjusting holes in the beam, a perforated plate on the top and bottom sides of the beam, pins, and a wedge-shaped key between the bar and a slot in a tooth.
Date: July 25, 1893
Creator: West, Edward B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Appratus for Treating Refuse Matter. (open access)

Appratus for Treating Refuse Matter.

Patent for "the perfection of an apparatus by the use of which night soil or garbage may be reduced to ashes in the shortest possible time and at a comparatively trivial expense" (lines 20-24).
Date: August 8, 1893
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Burning Garbage, &c. (open access)

Apparatus for Burning Garbage, &c.

Patent for an improved apparatus for burning refuse and consists of a roasting chamber, a garbage grate, grates that slope and carry the product away after combustion, flues that open above the grates, and the wall partly closes on one end to let the products away after combustion.
Date: August 22, 1893
Creator: Garretson, William H. & Tainter, Silas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clock-Winding Mechanism. (open access)

Clock-Winding Mechanism.

Patent for "an improved mechanism for the periodical automatic winding of clocks by water power, and has for its object to provide an apparatus that will be adapted to utilize the power afforded by the gravity of water discharged at regular intervals from a tank, which is in an elevated position and is supplied with water by rain fall or other means" (lines 8-16).
Date: September 26, 1893
Creator: Everhart, Martin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cattle-Guard. (open access)

Cattle-Guard.

Patent for a cattle guard that prevents cattle from blocking railroad tracks. It consists of sharp edged cross ties that sit on the bottom of a shallow pit, guard rails that cover the cross ties, bolts that hold the rails together, and end planks forming v-shaped serrations.
Date: October 10, 1893
Creator: Lynch, Michael L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal-Poke. (open access)

Animal-Poke.

Patent for animal-poke that prevents them from jumping or forcing their way through fences. It consists of a yoke with its ends pointing upward, a brow band, rods that connect the brow band and the ends of the yoke, and bulges at the ends of the rods.
Date: October 10, 1893
Creator: McWilliams, Anderson W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Handling Seed-Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Handling Seed-Cotton.

Patent for an improved cotton elevator, separator, and distributor that is meant to move cotton from a wagon or storage, remove dirt, and deliver it to a gin. The "improved apparatus comprises a pneumatic cotton-conveying tube by which the cotton is lifted or carried to the distributor, a separator for removing the cotton from the air current, and a distributor comprising a trunk for receiving the cotton from the separator extending over the two gin feeders, having openings delivering into the feeders, and an endless chain conveyer moving in said trunk, causing the cotton to travel along therein and drop out therefrom through the delivery openings into the feeders" (lines 16-27).
Date: October 31, 1893
Creator: Bachman, Joseph A. & Clark, Frank S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Rope Fastener (open access)

Wire-Rope Fastener

Patent for improvements in design for wire rope fasteners, includes Illustrations.
Date: January 31, 1893
Creator: Widmer, Louis John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Composition of Matter for Removing Grease, &c. (open access)

Composition of Matter for Removing Grease, &c.

Patent for a compound that is meant to remove grease, oil, paint, and similar things from delicate cloth. It is composed of gasoline, chloroform, sulfuric ether, alcohol, spirits of ammonia, powdered borax, powdered carbonate of soda, and saltpeter in lumps.
Date: February 7, 1893
Creator: Ehman, Benedickt
System: The Portal to Texas History
Chain-Steamer. (open access)

Chain-Steamer.

Patent for a chain steamer that has an improved means of propulsion with a uniform speed despite a changing current. It does not allow the boat to laterally deflect. It is especially meant to be used with tow boats that travel on fast-moving, shallow streams. It can be used to move ferry boats across fast-moving rivers as well.
Date: February 7, 1893
Creator: Pfeifer, Edmund I. & Pfeifer, Eduard A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Bag Carrier. (open access)

Cotton-Bag Carrier.

Patent for improved cotton sack carrier: "the object of the present invention is to provide a device whereby cotton sacks may be conveniently carried during the picking of cotton from one portion of the field to another without wearing the sack and with convenience to the picker" (lines 10-15).
Date: February 21, 1893
Creator: Laird, Archibald F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Heel-Sweep Plow. (open access)

Combination Heel-Sweep Plow.

Patent for an improved plow that can have "either first a whole heel sweep, or a right or left half heel sweep, second a whole solid sweep, or a right or left half solid sweep, third a right and left turn plow, or a right or left half turn plow" (lines 15-19).
Date: February 28, 1893
Creator: Dean, John Rowe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Boring Artesian Wells. (open access)

Apparatus for Boring Artesian Wells.

Patent for an improved and simple apparatus for boring wells that is easily adjustable. The drill head will stay intact in most drilling situations with this apparatus.
Date: February 28, 1893
Creator: Brown, Frank O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Washing and Scrubbing Gas. (open access)

Apparatus for Washing and Scrubbing Gas.

Patent for a washer-scrubber that cleans gas from "tarry matter, ammonia, sulphureted hydrogen, carbonic acid and other impurities" (lines 14-16). The machine divides gas into streams, sprays it with washing liquor, spreads it over reticulated and perforated plates.
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Fitzgerald, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher and Splicer. (open access)

Wire Stretcher and Splicer.

Patent for a wire stretcher and splicer device, for "stretching of the wire when a fence is being constructed, the tightening of the wire after the fence is constructed, and the splicing of broken wire" (lines 10-13), with illustrations.
Date: January 17, 1893
Creator: Dowell, Lawson Henrey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench and Cutter. (open access)

Wrench and Cutter.

Patent for a simple, durable, and economic wrench and cutter that is easily used to turn nuts, pipes, or to cut pipes. The wrench does not need to be removed while cutting.
Date: April 18, 1893
Creator: Fletcher, Theodore
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench. (open access)

Wrench.

Patent for an improved wrench that has two movable jaws and can separate about the length of the handle. The wrench's "head or nut for operating the upper jaw is swiveled and forms a part of the handle" (lines 14-15). The wrench can be converted into a pipe-wrench.
Date: May 9, 1893
Creator: King, Will Henry Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window-Sash. (open access)

Window-Sash.

Patent for an improved window sash that is meant to "provide means for securing a sash in its frame whereby it is capable of free movement, and at the same time is dust-proof, wind-proof, rain-proof, and snow-proof" (lines 9-13). The sash does not rattle and cannot be displaced from the outside.
Date: June 6, 1893
Creator: Roach, George W. & Ralph, Sidney L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a simple and efficient wire stretcher that aids in fence-building, tightening loose wires, cutting wires, and tying broken wires. The stretcher is similar in appearance to a wrench that can be taken apart in order to properly utilize the tool.
Date: June 13, 1893
Creator: McKinney, John Wilson
System: The Portal to Texas History