Box for Washing Gravel, &c. (open access)

Box for Washing Gravel, &c.

Patent for washing gravel and other material for making concrete.
Date: February 28, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Drilling Tool for Wells. (open access)

Drilling Tool for Wells.

Patent for a new and improved drilling tool for wells. This design "relates to tools for drilling or boring Artesian, oil, and other deep wells; and it has for its object to prevent the loss of drill or auger or any portion of the drill-rods. With this end in view the invention consists in the improved means for connecting the tool to the lower end of the drill-rod" (lines 9-15).
Date: May 28, 1889
Creator: McLane, Hiram H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect Destroying Apparatus. (open access)

Insect Destroying Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design "relates to apparatus . . . in which a vessel having an open bottom, but closed top and sides, and containing a furnace for burning obnoxious substances, is projected into or made to form a close joint with the ground, and which has a fan or pump combined with it that causes the fumes from the furnace to enter the ant-holes in the ground. [They] have been . . . attended with so many disadvantages . . . [t]he object of [the] invention is to remove these defects . . . [it] shall be efficient, durable, and labor-saving" (lines 8-25).
Date: August 28, 1883
Creator: Matthews, James M.
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 axle having the landside-wheel and the larger inclined furrow-wheel, of the tongue, the vertical bars secured to the under side of the tongue, the lower ends of the bars being clipped to the axle and adjustable laterally thereon, the curved brace clipped at its ends to the axle and between its ends to the lower ends of the bars, and the plow and its operating lever" (lines 73-82).
Date: June 28, 1887
Creator: Locke, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History