Rotary Cotton-Chopper (open access)

Rotary Cotton-Chopper

Patent for "new and useful improvements in rotary cotton-choppers" (lines 4-5) that are of "the class of cotton-choppers which travel across the rows, and also to the class which use a revolving drum having blades or hoes spirally arranged on its periphery" (lines 13-17), including descriptions and illustrations.
Date: June 8, 1880
Creator: Lee, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire-stretcher. This design consists in "the combination, with an essentially T-shaped body having the members of the head inclined in direction of the straight member and provided with a series of teeth, of a lever pivoted to the straight member of the body contiguous to the head and clamping-jaws pivoted upon the said lever" (lines 32-39).
Date: February 19, 1889
Creator: Hughes, George Roland
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire-stretcher. This design "has for its object to provide a device of simple, durable, and economical construction and capable of carrying the roll taut a sufficient distance beyond the post to conveniently nail the wire thereto, and whereby any amount of slack can be taken up by repeated operation. The further object of the invention is to provide a machine which will also be able to draw together the broken ends of a wire and take up the slack between the posts" (lines 8-18).
Date: October 22, 1889
Creator: Hickman, Thomas P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Liniment. (open access)

Liniment.

Patent for an antiseptic liniment comprised of flaxseed oil, turpentine, and sulphuric acid.
Date: February 19, 1889
Creator: Bates, David
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for an improvement to washing machines that will be "simple and economical in construction and efficient in use" (lines 13-14).
Date: September 1, 1885
Creator: Austin, John Overton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design consists in "the combination of a bar provided with a toothed quadrant and with a boss having an overhanging projection at its rear end, an eccentric pivoted on the face of the said boss for holding the wire against the projection, a hand-lever pivoted to the bar, and provided with a spring-detent engaging with a toothed quadrant, a plate pivoted at one end to the hand-lever and provided with an overhanging projection, and a second eccentric pivoted upon the face of the plate for gripping the wire against the projection" (lines 77-88).
Date: July 19, 1887
Creator: Mason, James Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Heater and Purifier. (open access)

Water Heater and Purifier.

Patent for a new and improved water heater and purifier. This design consists "[i]n the condenser, having the cover, the water-pipe and exhaust-steam pipe combined with the corrugated convex disk, whereby the water falls upon the disk and the steam enters beneath it" (lines 6-10).
Date: November 16, 1886
Creator: Wilson, Martin M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "consists in the construction and combination of parts . . . [of] that class of machines for cutting cotton and other stalks, consisting, essentially, of parallel runners or beams carrying outwardly-projecting knives, which serve to cut the stalks as the machine is drawn over the ground" (lines 15-22).
Date: November 29, 1881
Creator: Bolliver, William S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk Cutter. (open access)

Stalk Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable frame, which is drawn along by two horses, so as to straddle a row of plants, a diagonal guide for guiding the plants, a guiding finger or piece for guiding the plants toward the knife, and a rake for raking the plants in piles or heaps as fast as they are cut" (lines 13-19).
Date: July 3, 1883
Creator: Early, Louis Simeon & Early, Matthias John Bourland
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark Arrester for Smoke Stacks. (open access)

Spark Arrester for Smoke Stacks.

Patent for a new and improved spark arrester. This design consists "a direct flue or smoke-stack . . . [which] projects and deflects the sparks or cinders through perforations in a vertical wall of a stack into a dead-air space that surrounds the draft-flue, there causing these sparks . . . to impinge against vertical ribs that subdivide the annular air-space that intervenes between an inner and outer cylindrical wall of the stack, gravity of the accumulating mass of cinders causing their discharge . . . through gates that are opened by the weight of the sparks above them and closed by their own gravity" (lines 15-30).
Date: June 21, 1887
Creator: Wilson, Martin M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor. (open access)

Motor.

Patent for a new and improved motor. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the spring-actuated mechanism, of the ratchet-wheel, the spring-detent, and the lever to operate a rod" (lines 55-58).
Date: September 14, 1886
Creator: Houston, George W. & Mulkey, Elijah F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Holder for Shades and Reflectors. (open access)

Holder for Shades and Reflectors.

Patent for a new and improved holder for shades and reflectors. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a lamp-burner and its reflector, of a collar having the female threads, the radial arms, correspondingly threaded at the inner end, and having eyes at the outer end, and the spring-wire or cut ring carrying the reflector on one end" (lines 56-61).
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Vestal, Addison F. & Vestal, Charles A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate (open access)

Gate

Patent for improvements in farm gates, with description of parts and use and illustrations.
Date: November 24, 1885
Creator: Terry, Hiram
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the gate having a cross-bar, and mechanism . . . for operating the cross-bar and moving it vertically, the weighted levers, and the standards supporting the levers, of the latch-levers pivoted between their ends to the weighted levers and having their front ends engaged by the cross-bar, and the stops for engaging the rear ends of the latch-levers and holding the gate closed" (lines 15-24).
Date: November 1, 1887
Creator: Terry, Hiram
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring-Motor for Fans (open access)

Spring-Motor for Fans

Patent for "a device for operating a fan or other object to which it is desirable to give a continuous reciprocating motion" (lines 12-15).
Date: October 2, 1888
Creator: Houston, George Webster
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rein Holder. (open access)

Rein Holder.

Patent for a new and improved rein-holder. This design consists in an "improved rein-holder formed of the bifurcated standard having clamp-screws, the stationary cylinder, and the movable cylinder, pivoted eccentrically and at a point above the stationary cylinder" (lines 67-71).
Date: September 14, 1886
Creator: Gooch, Harold
System: The Portal to Texas History
Farm Gate. (open access)

Farm Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the posts having therein the pulleys . . . at the upper part, and one of them the notches, the cord, the weight attached thereto and to the gate, the gate, and the bolt in the post extending on either side of the gate and provided with a lug adapted to be moved over the gate and hold it down, or to be removed therefrom at will" (lines 72-80).
Date: February 8, 1887
Creator: Ellis, Benjamin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quilting Attachment for Sewing Machines. (open access)

Quilting Attachment for Sewing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved quilting attachment for sewing machines. This design "has for its object to connect the quilting-frame and the sewing-machine so that the action of the machine will automatically propel the quilting frame; and it consists in the construction, combination, and arrangement of the several parts" (lines 17-22).
Date: September 26, 1882
Creator: German, Francis M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design "is to provide a seed-planter with means whereby the strain on the rotating cylinder or the scraper is equalized and reduced to a minimum, and to provide improved means for effectually covering the seed after they have been deposited" (lines 20-25).
Date: September 28, 1886
Creator: Savage, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "the combination, with a frame, a hopper, and a wheel provided with pins projecting from its sides, of the slide provided with the pins, the [other] slide provided with the inclined slots, the levers pivoted to the frame, the links connected to the said slides and levers, the stirrer-shaft provided with crank-arms, and the [other] link" (lines 21-29).
Date: January 4, 1887
Creator: Hasty, James P. & Hise, George L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow Point. (open access)

Plow Point.

Patent for a new and improved plow-point. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the double mold-board rigidly fixed to the curved beam in the rear of the lower end thereof, of the point having symmetrical corners and lugs adapted to pass beneath the front edge of said mold-board and prevent rocking of the point upon the beam, to which alone it is attached, and bolts securing said point in position" (lines 65-73).
Date: May 22, 1888
Creator: Martin, Isaac Jasper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quilting Frame. (open access)

Quilting Frame.

Patent for a new and improved quilting frame for sewing machines. This design consists "[i]n a quilting frame, the combination, with suitable supporting standards having an inclined V-shaped track secured thereto, of a rail having rollers mounted upon the side thereof and traveling upon said track, depending brackets secured to the ends of said rail, transverse secured to the ends of said depending rods, and rollers having bearing in said transverse strips" (lines 3-11).
Date: December 9, 1884
Creator: German, Francis M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Fan. (open access)

Power Fan.

Patent for a new and improved power fan. This design consists in "the combination of the slowly-revolving spring-barrel and the toothed gearing, the pitman-rod operated from the revolving gearing by a crank, the fan-lever connected to the pitman-rod, a weight sliding upon the fan-lever, and a ratchet mechanism for automatically raising the sliding weight" (lines 78-84).
Date: January 10, 1888
Creator: Mason, James Alexander; Mulkey, Elijah F. & Houston, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quilting Frame. (open access)

Quilting Frame.

Patent for a new and improved quilting-frame. This design consists in "the combination, with a suspended track-beam, of a block carrying at the upper end journaled wheels which travel on said beam, a quilting-frame swiveled to said block and having inside loops at the lower end, and the quilting-roll end plates movable through said loops, as shown, whereby the quilt may be balanced, turned in a horizontal plane to a greater or less degree, and fed to the sewing machine" (lines 52-61).
Date: June 26, 1888
Creator: Vestal, Charles A.
System: The Portal to Texas History