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
Cotton and Corn Planter. (open access)

Cotton and Corn Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "features . . . first, reciprocating forked seed pushers or plungers attached to a sliding frame and operating alternately to deliver the seed through a covered opening in the bottom of the hopper, whence it passes into the furrow; second, an intermittently-rotating shaft arranged in the seed-hopper and provided with spiral or oblique arms for agitating the seed and feeding it toward the discharge opening" (lines 15-24).
Date: January 24, 1882
Creator: Turley, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Shears. (open access)

Animal Shears.

Patent for new and improved animal shears. This design is "of a platinum or other wire or conductor heated to a high temperature, sufficient to burn through the fibers of the wool or hair, and [is] passed over the surface of the body as close as may be deemed desirable to the roots. No injurious effects are produced upon the animal or upon the wool or hair removed, while at the same time the same may be removed with great uniformity and expedition" (lines 28-36).
Date: June 8, 1886
Creator: Harrell, Joseph J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bailing-Press. (open access)

Bailing-Press.

Patent for Bailing Press including illustrations. The purpose of the bailing press was to improve "the bailing-press especially adapted for bailing cotton, which press is simple in construction, strong and durable, and operates rapidly" ( lines 9-12).
Date: November 24, 1885
Creator: Clark, Frank
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Impregnating Liquids with Gases. (open access)

Apparatus for Impregnating Liquids with Gases.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for impregnating liquids with gases. This design "relates to apparatus for impregnating water or other suitable liquid with the fumes emanating from the consumption of a combustible composition of matter, such as sulphur, which when ignited emits a gas containing suitable medicinal qualities" (lines 14-19). It consists in "the closed reservoir for containing the liquid, having windows upon opposite walls thereof, of the transverse beam having its ends supported in said windows, the sulphur-containing vessel . . . the man-hole, the air-hole, and cocks" (lines 4-10).
Date: October 8, 1889
Creator: Radam, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dental Chair. (open access)

Dental Chair.

Patent for a dental chair improvement.
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Stiles, Edmund P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Barrel Cover. (open access)

Barrel Cover.

Patent for a new and improved cover for barrels. This design calls for downward-extending flanges with wings along the perimeter of the cover. These flanges hold the cover in place over the barrel opening, but they also allow for the cover to rest at an angle on the upper rim of the barrel so that one has access to the contents of the barrel without the cover touching the ground.
Date: May 29, 1883
Creator: Lane, Fernando Gustavous
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Wardrobe and Book-Case. (open access)

Combined Wardrobe and Book-Case.

Patent for a combined bookcase and wardrobe cabinet, with illustrations. The purpose of the bookcase and wardrobe cabinet is to be "used as a bookcase, wardrobe, or show-case at will" (lines 10-11).
Date: November 30, 1886
Creator: Schmidt, Julius Friedrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon-Body (open access)

Wagon-Body

Patent for "an improvement in extensible wagon-bodies," (lines 8-9) including illustrations.
Date: November 8, 1887
Creator: Stumpf, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tuck Creasing and Marking Attachment for Sewing Machines. (open access)

Tuck Creasing and Marking Attachment for Sewing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved tuck creasing and marking attachment for sewing machines. This design "is to provide a simple and effective tuck creaser or marker to be operated directly by the needle-bar of a sewing machine; and it consists, essentially, of a creaser and an arm attached to the needle-bar and carrying an indent-piece, which strikes the creaser to mark or crimp the tuck. The creaser is formed upon a slide adjustable upon a graduated plate or bar attached to the plate of the sewing machine" (lines 15-24).
Date: April 2, 1889
Creator: Crawford, Alice Ann
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle Wheel. (open access)

Vehicle Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle wheel. This design "consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of a brace consisting of two rings secured together, and having recesses in their meeting sides, and provided with a number of brace-rods passing to one or two rings secured upon the hub of a vehicle-wheel, the spokes fitting in the recesses in the meeting sides of the rings" (lines 19-27).
Date: January 15, 1884
Creator: Stein, Philip Harris
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kettle Attachment. (open access)

Kettle Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved kettle attachment. This design "provides an attachment to be used with the kettle, whereby the "boiling over" of the material and the consequent running of the same down the sides of the said kettle are prevented. The material that would ordinarily flow over the sides of the kettle and waste is by the use of [a] device . . . saved, and any and all danger of fire from the overflowing sugar in candy manufacture is prevented" (lines 11-20).
Date: February 17, 1885
Creator: Lamme, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing Machine. (open access)

Washing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design "relates to improvements in the class of washing-machines commonly known as 'cylinder washing-machines,' and has for its object the production of a machine which will operate thoroughly and expeditiously, and without injury to the fabric, while at the same time it is light and inexpensive in construction and simple in operation; and with these ends in view the invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts" (lines 10-20).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Ekman, Axel F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locking Device for Baling Press Doors. (open access)

Locking Device for Baling Press Doors.

Patent for a new and improved lock for baling-press doors. This design "is to provide a . . . locking device for the doors of the baling chamber of a baling-press, which locking device is so constructed that all the doors can be locked in a single operation and by means of the same device, and may be loosened simultaneously" (lines 8-14).
Date: February 16, 1886
Creator: Clark, Frank S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for windmills by making them self-regulating and "it consists in the construction and arrangement of devices whereby the force of the wind is made to move the wind-wheel and crank-shift backward and turn the vane, and also in the devices for turning the vane at will" (lines 14-18).
Date: February 3, 1880
Creator: Tevis, James H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Cleaning, Polishing, and Assorting Nuts. (open access)

Machine for Cleaning, Polishing, and Assorting Nuts.

Patent for a new and improved nut cleaner, polisher, and sorter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the nut-cleaning cylinder having the longitudinal door and transversely-arranged wire cylinders having doors, of the intermediate hopper, arranged lengthwise of the cylinder, as well as under it, and having apertures over the doors of the wire cylinders . . . and a series of sieves, successively increasing in mesh, of a perforated floor, an end plate terminating in [an] eccentric, an elevator, and a delivery spout" (lines 28-34).
Date: September 13, 1881
Creator: Koerber, Rudolph C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locomotive Head-Light (open access)

Locomotive Head-Light

Patent for improvements to locomotive headlights granted to John Robert McCormick in order to make the headlights movable by levers or gears.
Date: March 31, 1885
Creator: McCormick, John Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Writing Pen. (open access)

Writing Pen.

Patent for a new and improved pen. This design has for its object "to provide a simple implement which may be readily employed for writing purposes; and it consists in a thimble-like sleeve having a writing-pen arranged at its outer end, adapted to be easily applied to the index or fore-finger; and it further consists in the peculiar construction of implement" (lines 7-14).
Date: October 16, 1888
Creator: Seabaugh, Conrad
System: The Portal to Texas History
Three Wheeled Vehicle. (open access)

Three Wheeled Vehicle.

Patent for a new and improved three-wheeled vehicle. This design "has an advantage over a four-wheeled vehicle in dispensing with one wheel and one or more springs. It is more readily turned than a four-wheeled vehicle, and can more easily avoid collision with other vehicles when in motion. It also offers better facilities for entering and leaving the carriage, and a vehicle for this design and of equal strength with a four-wheeled vehicle will weigh twenty to fifty pounds less" (lines 73-82).
Date: January 4, 1881
Creator: Humbert, Prosper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam, Air, or Water Engine. (open access)

Steam, Air, or Water Engine.

Patent for simplifying the construction of steam-engines allowing them efficiently use the power of steam" gas, vapor or air in varying positions, vertical, horizontal, or inclined.
Date: May 9, 1882
Creator: Adams, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
T-Square. (open access)

T-Square.

Patent for a new and improved t-square. This design calls for a triangular prism of a tongue, which enables more scales to be available to the work-person. The head, with its brackets and rabbet, will fasten the tongue in place while the work-person uses it.
Date: November 7, 1882
Creator: Rowe, Joseph William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam-Engine (open access)

Steam-Engine

Patent for improvements to be made upon steam engines, with description of parts and use and illustrations.
Date: May 25, 1886
Creator: Cross, David L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "relates to an improvement in . . . the construction of the mold-board and to the arrangement thereof relative to the plowshare. The mold-board, instead of being curved or concave, as has usually been the case, is . . . made perfectly flat, and so constructed that it projects at one corner slightly beyond the upper edge of the plowshare. . . . [C]onsequently the plow can be moved through the soil with less difficulty" (lines 13-25).
Date: January 10, 1882
Creator: Domschke, Charles.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lamp Chimney Attachment. (open access)

Lamp Chimney Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved attachment for oil-lamp chimneys. This design is for a metal piece to be inserted into the top of the glass chimney, resting along the chimney's brim. The piece has an elbow that connects the inserted part to an angled and tapered part, which, when appropriately turned, prevents the wind from extinguishing the lamp's flame.
Date: November 28, 1882
Creator: Illingworth, James O.
System: The Portal to Texas History