Wire Stretcher (open access)

Wire Stretcher

Patent for a wire stretcher. Illustration included.
Date: July 31, 1906
Creator: Culp, Willis Harmon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher (open access)

Wire Stretcher

Patent for a wire stretcher. Illustration included.
Date: December 15, 1908
Creator: Todd, James C.; Harvison, John A. & Howard, William F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle Hub. (open access)

Vehicle Hub.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle wheel. This design "consists in the peculiar construction, combination, and arrangement of the parts, whereby a single damaged spoke may be removed and a new spoke inserted without releasing the several spokes comprising the wheel" (lines 11-16).
Date: November 11, 1884
Creator: Miller, Thomas S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kiln (open access)

Kiln

Patent for improvements to kilns, which include improvements for transferring heat, "burning lime and clay products"(line 11), powdered fuel feeding and preventing unheated air from flowing into the kiln.
Date: May 13, 1919
Creator: Bone, David R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill Attachment. (open access)

Windmill Attachment.

Patent for an attachment for hand or windmill pumps in order to reduce stress of upward and load moving strokes, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 23, 1919
Creator: Bertrand, Rabb A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window Fastener (open access)

Window Fastener

Patent for a "combined automatic window fastener and lock by means of which a sliding window-sash may be securely held and fastened at any desired point of elevation and locked against movement in either direction."
Date: September 2, 1902
Creator: Parks, Leonard D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window-Lock (open access)

Window-Lock

Patent for a window lock. Illustrations included.
Date: May 3, 1910
Creator: Sydow, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Window-Lock. (open access)

Window-Lock.

Patent for locking windows in place at various elevations with illustrations.
Date: January 21, 1908
Creator: Kinsey, Columbus M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lard-Press. (open access)

Lard-Press.

Patent for a lard press, which is easy to use and inexpensive to make.
Date: July 12, 1910
Creator: Harman, Effie
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Seed-Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Seed-Planters.

Patent for a new and improved seed-planter. Illustration included.
Date: February 20, 1877
Creator: Miller, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Photographers' Bath-Warmers (open access)

Improvement in Photographers' Bath-Warmers

Patent for keeping photographers' chemicals and bath water the same temperature throughout the liquids. The patent contains instructions and illustrations for the creation and use of the invention.
Date: March 27, 1877
Creator: Fellrath, Charles J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Cover. (open access)

Well Cover.

Patent for a new and improved well cover. This design "is to provide a new and improved cover for wells, cisterns, &c., which cover is so constructed and arranged that it can be moved back by stepping on a step in front of it, and is automatically closed when the pressure is removed" (lines 8-13).
Date: September 8, 1885
Creator: Bullock, Henry P. & Cook, Henry B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Bucket. (open access)

Well Bucket.

Patent for a new and improved well bucket. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a body having a valve-seat facing downward in its bottom, a valve having a conical guide upon its upper surface, a flange at its lower end bearing against the seat with a washer and formed with an upwardly-projecting eye or link at its top, and a rod for the attachment of the hoisting-rope passing out at the top of the bucket and having an eye at its lower end connected to the eye of the link" (lines 40-49).
Date: August 24, 1886
Creator: Fellrath, Charles John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Medical Compounds or Bitters for Treating Chills and Fever. (open access)

Improvement in Medical Compounds or Bitters for Treating Chills and Fever.

Patent for a new medical compound to treat chills and fevers which lists the ingredients and dosages.
Date: May 20, 1873
Creator: Owens, Thomas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Apparatus for Stretching Wire Fences. (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for Stretching Wire Fences.

Patent for stretching wire from post to post in the construction of wire fencing, which includes directions how to secure the wire, includes illustrations.
Date: March 4, 1873
Creator: Mangham, Josiah T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hub-Attaching Device. (open access)

Hub-Attaching Device.

Patent for hub attaching device. "This invention relates to means applied to ordinary vehicle-axles for preventing wear upon the same, a false wearing-surface being provided, which may be renewed when necessary, either on account of wear or for any other reason"(lines 11-16)
Date: November 18, 1902
Creator: Simon, Adolph P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Meat Chopper. (open access)

Meat Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved meat chopper. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the frame having horizontal slots, a sash having interchangeable cutting and tenderizing blades, devices for operating the sash, and wires or rods adjustable in said slots to accommodate either blade . . . [and] [t]he combination of [a] shaft with spur-wheels, pinion, crank-shaft, pitman, sash, removable blade, shaft, carrying spur-wheel, and pinions, and [a] meat-board or table with racks" (lines 91-101).
Date: March 3, 1885
Creator: Mathes, William McConnell
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Iron. (open access)

Trace Iron.

Patent for a new and improved trace-iron. This design "is to provide a new and improved trace-iron which is simple and durable in construction and arranged to readily connect with the end of the trace without the employment of rivets and which can be readily attached to or detached from the hame. The invention consists of two leaves pivotally-connected with each other and adapted to fold one on the other, one leaf being provided with a hook passing through an aperture in the other leaf and adapted to engage the trace" (lines 7-19).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Dankworth, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spoke Socket for Vehicle Wheels. (open access)

Spoke Socket for Vehicle Wheels.

Patent for a new and improved spoke-socket for wheels. This design consists in "a felly-joint and spoke-socket, consisting of the U-shaped plate . . . of the contrivance having at its ends flanges or plates provided at their side edges with lips or supplementary flanges clamping or hugging the tire . . . [and] the wedge having a slot inserted between said fellies" (lines 54-68).
Date: April 5, 1887
Creator: Miller, Thomas S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Surgical Instrument. (open access)

Surgical Instrument.

Patent for improvements to a device to perform an operation known as a perrineorhaphia, including an illustration of the device. This device stabilizes the edges of a wound on the perineum so the surgeon can place sutures and close the wound.
Date: September 16, 1902
Creator: Simpson, Richard H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Patent for Hay Press and Baler (open access)

Patent for Hay Press and Baler

Patent for Hay Press and Baler
Date: November 14, 1916
Creator: Gernigan, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stock for Plow Trucks. (open access)

Stock for Plow Trucks.

Patent for a new and improved stock for plow-trucks. This design "provide[s] an improved stock and suitable devices for connecting a plow to any pair of wheels and axle forming a part of a wagon, by which simple additional connections a farmer may construct a sulky-plow in a cheap and simple manner" (lines 8-13).
Date: January 10, 1882
Creator: Hinson, Asa Chandler
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire Tightener. (open access)

Tire Tightener.

Patent for a new and improved tire-tightener. This design "has for its object to improve the means for lifting the felly so as to permit the insertion of a washer between the felly and the spoke, so as to take up any slack or looseness that may have occurred, and thus tighten the tire on the felly" (lines 15-20). It consists, "with a block adapted to be clamped to a spoke and an adjusting-screw, of a jaw operated by said screw and having its upper portion extended or curved to one side and then bifurcated to form two arms, each of which is provided with a fork adapted to lie against the under face" (lines 39-46).
Date: June 14, 1892
Creator: Cayce, Robert Walter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Thill-Coupling. (open access)

Thill-Coupling.

Patent for an improved thill coupling, one meant to "prevent the annoyance of nuts coming off, allowing the thill to come out of place" (lines 55-57). "It is also for the purpose of facilitating the changing of a pair of shafts for a tongue or a tongue for shafts" (lines 59-61).
Date: June 8, 1897
Creator: Kitching, David C.
System: The Portal to Texas History