Resource Type

Cattle-Yoke. (open access)

Cattle-Yoke.

Patent for a new and useful cattle yoke for preventing them from breaking, tearing down, jumping over, or crawling through the openings in fences (line 6 -8).
Date: March 22, 1898
Creator: Kirk, Robert S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Conveyer. (open access)

Conveyer.

Patent for a new conveyer design “which is particularly adapted to load or unload railroad-car wheels or other heavy material on and of cars” (Lines 13-15) including illustrations.
Date: July 22, 1902
Creator: St. James, Henry Livingston
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Trap or Dip (open access)

Animal Trap or Dip

Patent for a trap for small animals. Illustrations included.
Date: November 22, 1910
Creator: Morris, Leopold
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Burning Crude Oil (open access)

Apparatus for Burning Crude Oil

Patent for an apparatus for burning crude oil in stoves.
Date: November 22, 1910
Creator: Kunkel, Albert R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artist's Easel and Attachable Rest. (open access)

Artist's Easel and Attachable Rest.

Patent for a new and improved easel and rest. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the rest . . . of the bar pivoted to [a] holder by bolt, the perforated bar pivoted to [another] bar by [another] bolt, and the easel united to the [first] bar by a suitable round bolt" (lines 97-101).
Date: January 22, 1889
Creator: Johnson, John Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design calls for a tank of water to be buried in the ground and a collar of cheap material to be attached to the tank and placed over the mouth of an anthill. The concave nature of the collar prevents ants from climbing out of it, so they are forced into the water tank, where they drown; the design is cheaper and less toxic than previous designs.
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Arnett, Sandridge Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Treating Timber, Railway Ties, &c. (open access)

Apparatus for Treating Timber, Railway Ties, &c.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for treating and preserving. This design "insure[s] the complete and perfect treatment or impregnation of timber of varying hardness and density, and to provide a portable organization of apparatus by which timber at various points or stations along the line of a railroad can be treated with great facility, efficiency, and economy" (lines 12-19).
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Kreuter, Hugh E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Killing Rodents (open access)

Apparatus for Killing Rodents

Patent for an apparatus for killing rodents "that may be used effectively for the destruction of all animals that burrow in the ground; and it consists in a furnace for the generation of sulphurous odors or other suffocating gases and a pump for forcing the gases into the burrows of the animals . . . ."
Date: August 22, 1882
Creator: Palmer, Austin D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for the Treatment of Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for the Treatment of Cotton.

Patent for a machine that puts gins and condensers in a line, which sit over a flue. "The lint cotton in bat form being delivered from all of the condensers in independent bats to a common conveyer, the bat cotton increasing in thickness upon the common conveyer and in its travel to a press, compress or other receptacle, receiving the different bats from the different condensers, one bat lying smoothly upon the other, until at the discharge end of the common conveyer, the bat in which the lint is evenly distributed and which is of considerable thickness, will be conveniently discharged" (lines 13-24).
Date: May 22, 1894
Creator: Zedler, Friedrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design consists in "[a]n ant-trap, comprising the body and the inward-projecting tubes having the protecting-caps on their inner ends, the outer faces of the caps being convex and provided with apertures of greater diameter than the bore of the inner end of the tube" (lines 90-95).
Date: February 22, 1887
Creator: McCallum, Walter Randolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn-Sheller. (open access)

Corn-Sheller.

Patent for improvement in corn-shellers; in which “it consists in a perforated casting provided with radial teeth or projections which extend toward its center and which is to be secured to a support having an opening through it, combined with a double-ended handle which has an opening through its center and teeth projecting from the opening.” (Lines 13-20) Illustration is included.
Date: September 22, 1891
Creator: Bander, Charles Bornet
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti Friction Journal. (open access)

Anti Friction Journal.

Patent for a new and improved anti-friction journal. This design "relates to anti-friction devices adapted especially for hoisting pulleys; and it has for its object to provide a device in which the shaft or axis of the main hoisting-pulley shall be supported or mounted upon the peripheries of wheels of a considerable diameter as compared with that of the hoisting-pulley, whereby the friction may be lessened to the greatest possible extent" (lines 24-32).
Date: July 22, 1884
Creator: Taylor, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spinning-Wheel (open access)

Spinning-Wheel

Patent for "an improvement in domestic spinning wheels; and it consists in the combination of parts whereby the spindle or whirl is supported from above so as to hang down within the operator's reach, and is made to constantly revolve at the same time that the whirl is moved from and toward the operator" (lines 12-19) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 22, 1880
Creator: Church, Joshua G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Plow (open access)

Rotary Plow

Patent for "rotary plows for plowing land, preparing the land to receive the seed and cultivating the plants, which shall be convenient in use, effective in operation, and not liable to get out of order" (lines 19-23) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 22, 1880
Creator: Tally, Thomas Jackson.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Game-Board (open access)

Game-Board

Patent for "a game-board having a trough at its head and squared apertures near said head, and numbered cubical blocks adapted to be revolved in said apertures" (lines 18-21) and "has relation to games to be played on bowling-alleys or boards with balls" (lines 16-17) including illustrations.
Date: June 22, 1880
Creator: Thompson, James Whiteford.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton - Bale Ties (open access)

Cotton - Bale Ties

Patent for tying the ends of cotton bale wires or bands.
Date: September 22, 1874
Creator: Szabo, Alexander A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Shears. (open access)

Animal Shears.

Patent for new and improved animal shears. This design calls for a spring with eyes at the ends so that the handles of individual blades may be inserted through them. Then, nuts fasten the individual blades to the spring, which makes sharpening easier and breakage less likely.
Date: February 22, 1881
Creator: Benavides, Cristobal & Arthur, Joshua P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Chain Release for Logging Cars. (open access)

Chain Release for Logging Cars.

Patent for new and useful improvements for a chain release for logging cars, including illustrations.
Date: May 22, 1917
Creator: Dodd, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adjustable Vehicle-Headlight (open access)

Adjustable Vehicle-Headlight

Patent for a headlight for a vehicle that is able to direct the light towards both sides of the road rather than only straight ahead.
Date: September 22, 1914
Creator: Kitching, David C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Advertising-Machine. (open access)

Advertising-Machine.

Patent for an advertising machine that reverses the travel of the apron that is used to connect with, and where, the display sign is printed. It also easily and efficiently reverses the driving mechanism once the apron is completely unwound from one of the rollers. The patent includes illustrations.
Date: July 22, 1913
Creator: Looney, Marma Duke
System: The Portal to Texas History
Beet-Harvester (open access)

Beet-Harvester

Patent for a beet-harvester that improves the efficiency and lowers the cost of beet-gripping devices, including illustrations.
Date: December 22, 1914
Creator: Stone, John E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ratchet Die-Stock (open access)

Ratchet Die-Stock

Patent for improvement on the usage of die-stocks which are used to cut and thread metal objects such as pipes.
Date: July 22, 1919
Creator: Hestand, Rue S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Sack Hanger. (open access)

Cotton-Sack Hanger.

Patent for a hanger designed to easily attach and detach from a cotton sack without damaging the sack or the hands of a cotton picker. It is designed to be made of a single piece of material and may be used to hang the sack on a scale for weighing the contents.
Date: July 22, 1919
Creator: Hamrick, Walter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bale-Tie Buckle (open access)

Bale-Tie Buckle

Patent for new and valuable improvements on bale-tie buckles for cotton bales. This relates to buckles securing ties on cotton bales and minimize injury to the persons handling the cotton.
Date: March 22, 1921
Creator: McFarland, Frank Hays
System: The Portal to Texas History