Resource Type

Animal-Shears (open access)

Animal-Shears

Patent for an improvement in animal shears to "simplify and improve the construction of animal-shears, and render their operation more positive and reliable" (lines 11-13).
Date: August 26, 1890
Creator: Monday, Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Plow and Scraper (open access)

Combined Plow and Scraper

Patent for "a combined plow and scraper, which may be employed to alternately break or loosen a surface that is being graded or lowered, and to scrape the loosened material from said surface." (lines 14-18)
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Reese, Edwin M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Roost and Nest (open access)

Combined Roost and Nest

Patent for a combined roost and nest for farm animals. The purpose of this new design is to improve the sanitation of current roosts and nests.
Date: August 26, 1919
Creator: Gilmore, Calvin L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Aerial Conveyor (open access)

Aerial Conveyor

Patent for an aerial conveyor, specifically one that relates to "an aerial suspension car for aiding linemen in traveling along a suspended cable" (lines 9-11). It's primary function is to allow a wheeled car to be mounted on a cable and used to transport a person.
Date: August 26, 1919
Creator: Moore, Richard S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Shade-Bracket (open access)

Shade-Bracket

Patent for shade-brackets which connects window shades or blinds to a wall or ceiling
Date: August 26, 1919
Creator: Overman, Benjamin Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Weeding-Hoes. (open access)

Improvement in Weeding-Hoes.

Patent for improvment of "the construction of weeding-hoes; and it consists in providing the same with an inclined cutting-edge, in such a way that they will enter and pass through the ground more easily than hoes constructed in the ordinary manner." (11-16)including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1873
Creator: Crossland, Henry S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Weed-Cutting Attachment for Plows. (open access)

Weed-Cutting Attachment for Plows.

Patent is for "weed cutting devices for plows, and has for its object to provide the shovel of a plow or cultivator with blades or knives, which are adapted to enter the soil a slight distance and cut down or uproot all weeds or grass and at the same time to smooth or pulverize the soil" (lines 12-18).
Date: August 26, 1902
Creator: Robinson, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel. (open access)

Wheel.

Patent for "new and useful, Improvements in wheels and more particularly to that class known as spring or resilient wheels" (lines 12-15), including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Hardin, Benjiman Barnett
System: The Portal to Texas History
Land-Breaking Plow. (open access)

Land-Breaking Plow.

Patent for an agricultural plow that mixes the soil of multiple layers while keeping the soil in its initial layer to conserve moisture and deliver nitrogen. Plow can be motorized or use animals to function.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Reed, Arthur
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Street-Cars (open access)

Improvement in Street-Cars

Patent for an improvement to Street Cars to better navigate curves. Includes description and illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1879
Creator: Towell, Isaac
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Iron Saddle-Tree Forks (open access)

Improvement in Iron Saddle-Tree Forks

Patent for an improvement in iron saddle-tree forks that are cheaper to construct as well as light and durable. Includes illustration and description.
Date: August 26, 1879
Creator: Wood, John McLane & Bellah, William Newton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hub Ball-Bearing. (open access)

Hub Ball-Bearing.

Patent for a bearing to be employed in a wheel and axle system. The patented bearing is meant to reduce the usual amount of friction in the system to a minimum.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Price, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oyster-Opener. (open access)

Oyster-Opener.

Patent for an oyster opener that opens an oyster in a single operation of the device while simultaneously cutting the oyster from its shell.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Schmidt, Heinrich Fritz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil-Cup. (open access)

Oil-Cup.

Patent for an oil cup to be used for lubricating bearings that can be regulated with a valve to control the flow of the lubricant.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Dawley, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mineral-Prospecting Apparatus. (open access)

Mineral-Prospecting Apparatus.

Patent for an "apparatus for drilling and obtaining samples or specimens of minerals" (lines 12-13), and obtaining accurate samples of ores in situations where they would otherwise be washed away by water or broken apart. The patent includes illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Andrews, Benjamin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "has for its object to construct a plow with a detachable point, which may be removed from the plow in an easy and convenient manner and which may be held securely attached to the plow without the use of bolts" (lines 8-13). It consists in "the combination of a pair of clamping-plates, a seat or base-plate having a downwardly-extending flange secured between the front ends of said plates, said base-plate being provided with a transverse slot, the mold-board and point provided at their meeting edges with flanges" (lines 85-91).
Date: August 26, 1890
Creator: Messer, Jeremiah C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for improvements in plows so that it can be adjusted more easily while being overall easy to operate.
Date: August 26, 1890
Creator: Muesse, Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Oil Heater, Strainer, and Separator (open access)

Oil Heater, Strainer, and Separator

Patent for purifying oil by removing all impurities. It is meant to prepare the oil for fuel burning purposes.
Date: August 26, 1902
Creator: Burrow, Edgar A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grain-Hulling Machine. (open access)

Grain-Hulling Machine.

Patent for improvements in grain-hulling machines for further effectiveness and convenience at a lesser cost.
Date: August 26, 1916
Creator: Couch, Albert B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Street - Sweeping Machine. (open access)

Street - Sweeping Machine.

Patent for "new and useful Improvements in Street - Sweeping Machines" (lines 6-7), including instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Diserens, Thomas H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame-Tug. (open access)

Hame-Tug.

Patent for a new hame tug leather strap designed with metal loops and a buckle, including illustrations.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Schoellkopf, Jacob Frederick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerator. (open access)

Refrigerator.

Patent for a new and improved refrigerator. This design is "for use without ice, the cooling effect being secured by the evaporation of water. Consequently the apparatus will be most effective when exposed to a current of air. The apparatus is formed with a suitable framing, having its sides closed in with wire-gauze to permit the free circulation of air, and at the same time exclude insects and the like. At one side a door affords access to the interior of the refrigerator, and legs serve to hold its bottom above the floor or other support on which the refrigerator stands" (lines 16-28).
Date: August 26, 1890
Creator: Laman, Nancy A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pinless Clothes-Line. (open access)

Pinless Clothes-Line.

Patent for an inexpensive and easy to store clothesline that doesn't use clips, which are damaging to clothes.
Date: August 26, 1913
Creator: Kennedy, William Cambellos
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rack for Holding and Exhibiting Rolls of Goods. (open access)

Rack for Holding and Exhibiting Rolls of Goods.

Patent for a new and improved rack. This design consists in "[t]he rack comprising the sills, the crossed bars secured thereto and to each other at their intersecting parts and forming triangular sides, said crossed bars having the projecting ends, the cross-slats connecting the crossed bars and arranged in the angles thereof, and the extension comprising the inclined bars, the short crossed bars secured at right angles thereto, and the slats connecting the bars at the angles formed thereby, the said bars being detachably bolted to the projecting ends of the inclined bars of the rack" (lines 16-28).
Date: August 26, 1890
Creator: Chapman, Luna F. & Montgomery, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History