Banana-Case (open access)

Banana-Case

Patent for a banana case to "provide a case or crate in which bananas may be readily packed and transported without injury to the fruit."
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Aiken, Robert H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Sand and Gravel Washer (open access)

Combined Sand and Gravel Washer

Patent for "a combined gravel and sand washing box which shall effectually serve as a means for practically removing all sand and dirt from gravel and stones and all mud and fine dirt from sand" (lines 30-34).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Pole Tip and Neck Yoke Clamp. (open access)

Combined Pole Tip and Neck Yoke Clamp.

Patent for a new combination wagon-pole tip and neck-yoke clamp. This design "provide[s] a combined wagon-pole tip or socket and neck-yoke clamp of novel construction, which can be easily attached to and detached from the pole or neck-yoke, and which, when in use, will be self-adjusting to the movements of the neck-yoke due to the motion of the team" (lines 9-15).
Date: November 14, 1882
Creator: Sibert, Francis William & Hurd, Stephen Porter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mold for Building Concrete Walls. (open access)

Mold for Building Concrete Walls.

Patent for a mold to be used in the construction of concrete walls, including illustrations and instructions.
Date: November 24, 1885
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hoeing Machine. (open access)

Hoeing Machine.

Patent for a new and improved hoeing machine. This design is "first, to provide a joint between the handle and the gage-wheel, and to insure such arrangement of parts as will enable the operator, by raising and lowering one hand, to give the blade an oscillating motion or swing it from right to left with the greatest ease, and without tipping or turning the wheel or changing too much the position of the blade in respect to the surface of the ground; second, to provide a double gage-wheel that will have all the advantages of a leaning gage-wheel and will also stand firmly by itself" (lines 14-26).
Date: November 8, 1887
Creator: Hurd, Judson B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electrical Horometer. (open access)

Electrical Horometer.

Patent for a new and improved electrical horometer. This design consists, in addition to a switch-board with electric circuit terminals, "of a bell-crank lever pivoted to the switch-board and making the connection between said terminals, said lever having at one end a handle and at the other end a detent engaging with the ratchet-wheel when the circuit is opened, the said wheel being mounted upon the extended portion of one of the shafts of a clock or other suitable registering mechanism" (lines 1-8).
Date: November 29, 1887
Creator: Hammond, Benjamin M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wood Screw. (open access)

Wood Screw.

Patent for a new and improved wood screw. This design "consists of a screw-head having on the underside . . . cutting-edges alternating with flat and deep interspaces or notches, said notches completely filling the circuit of the screw-head and the notches gradually increasing in width and depth from the screw-shank to the crown of the head, thus enabling the cutters to clear themselves" (lines 12-20).
Date: November 23, 1880
Creator: Eckford, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Odorless Dry Outhouse and Apparatus for Use Therewith (open access)

Odorless Dry Outhouse and Apparatus for Use Therewith

Patent for "an outhouse which will be adapted for use in localties where water is scarce, or where it is either or both impracticable or undesirable to use water for flushing or draining" (lines 32-36).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Door Check. (open access)

Door Check.

Patent for a new and improved door-check. This design "consists in the combination, with a jaw provided with a pocket having an opening in its bottom, of a pivoted bar having a bead or nipple, which bar is passed through the pocket, and of a spring held in the pocket jaw and resting on the bar" (lines 12-17).
Date: November 10, 1885
Creator: Maurer, Adam
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "consists in the employment of a handled shaft hung in suitable bearings or buffers at the end of the car, and having a wheel provided with a series of pins or arms adapted to be automatically projected and retracted, said shaft also having ratchets engaged by holding-pawls" (lines 15-21).
Date: November 14, 1882
Creator: McLeary, James Harvey
System: The Portal to Texas History