Air Motor. (open access)

Air Motor.

Patent for a new and improved air-motor. This design is of an "air-motor, consisting of an engine, single-acting air-pump, air-receiver, and the double-acting exhaust-pump, with the valves and connections . . . [and] the levers and segments" (lines 81-87).
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Koniakowsky, Alois M.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Extracting Oils (open access)

Apparatus for Extracting Oils

Patent for a new and useful improvement "in a novel process and combination of devices or apparatus for extracting the oil from cotton seeds and other oil bearing seeds" (lines 8-12). Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 14, 1886
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History

Bastrop Sheet

Topographic map of a portion of Texas from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) project. The map includes towns, historic or notable sites, bodies of water, and other geologic features. Scale 1:125000
Date: 1885
Creator: Geological Survey (U.S.)
Object Type: Map
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect Destroyer. (open access)

Insect Destroyer.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design "form[s] a trap or destroyer for ants which can be placed around the top of their hole and then filled with some poisonous compound, so that when the ants attempt to crawl over the ring, frame, or collar they will be poisoned by the compound, and thus destroyed" (lines 23-29). By utilizing a drip to distribute the poison to the ring, frame, or collar, the poison is replenished as it evaporates.
Date: February 14, 1882
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect Destroyer. (open access)

Insect Destroyer.

Patent for a new and improved pest trap. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable fire chamber provided with a cover at its top, a pipe which passes through its side to admit a blast of air, a removable bottom, which is supported inside of the bottom of the chamber upon suitable supports, and a removable pipe through which the products of combustion are forced . . . when these parts are destroyed they have only to be replaced by new ones" (lines 14-28).
Date: November 20, 1883
Creator: Melcher, John C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump and Sprinkler. (open access)

Pump and Sprinkler.

Patent for a new and improved pump and sprinkler. This design "consists of a portable force-pump provided with a capricious air-chamber, and having on the end of its discharge-pipe a sprinkler of novel form, which causes the liquid to be ejected in a fine spray. . . . [This] provide[s] a simple, durable, and effective device, designed especially for use in sprinkling cotton-plants with poisonous solutions, to protect them against the ravages of injurious insects and worms" (lines 7-17).
Date: March 1, 1881
Creator: Polansky, Alois Josef
Object Type: Patent
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 adjustable standard-iron and the handles, of the transverse bar, clamp or hook bolt, and the pivoted adjustable brace, connected to the furrow-bar of said iron" (lines 87-91).
Date: January 17, 1882
Creator: Nitschmann, Franz
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tool for Removing Chips from Mortises. (open access)

Tool for Removing Chips from Mortises.

Patent for a new and improved chisel. This design "consist[s] of a body portion which is taped from its shank to near its point, the said point being provided with a barbed portion having a round swell" (lines 57-61).
Date: June 23, 1885
Creator: Winzenreid, Godfrey
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Press for Expressing Oil from Cotton and Other Seeds. (open access)

Press for Expressing Oil from Cotton and Other Seeds.

Patent for a new and improved oil-press. This design "consists in certain novel constructions and combination of the pressing-plates with each other and the ram of the press, and in means for operating said plates in independent series, whereby great efficiency is obtained, and the plates, which are guttered or grooved, may be readily cleaned" (lines 18-24).
Date: December 21, 1886
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
Object Type: Patent
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 plow-beam, of the staple secured to the plow-beam, the curved shank provided at its upper front end with the triangular loop having notches on its lower edge, which engage with the said staple, the bolt pivoted in the said plow-beam and connected to the rear portion of the shank under the handles, and the blades secured to the lower front end of shank under the staple" (lines 72-81).
Date: May 1, 1888
Creator: Nitschmann, Franz
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor. (open access)

Motor.

Patent for a new and improved motor. This design "relates to a mechanical power adapted to operate a churn, saw, and for other light work, and it has for its object to provide a device of this character which shall be cheap and simple in its construction effective in its operation, and one that will be strong and durable" (lines 9-15).
Date: February 24, 1885
Creator: Forister, John Hardin
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hilling Plow. (open access)

Hilling Plow.

Patent for a new and improved hilling-plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the beam, the stock, and the pivoted heel-bar, of the adjustable brace connecting said stock and heel-bar together, and the adjustable brace connecting the said brace with the rear of the beam" (lines 63-68).
Date: January 13, 1885
Creator: Schuster, Rudolph
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Honey Extractor. (open access)

Honey Extractor.

Patent for a new and improved honey extractor. This design "consists in, first, the combination, in a honey-extractor, of the pail, a suitable support for the revolving frame, a revolving frame which is made widest at its top, a perforated cross-piece which extends across the pail, and a spool or drum which is attached to the top of the vertical shaft . . . [and] second, the support which extends across the top of the pail or can, and which is provided with a series of holes so that it can be adapted to cans of different sizes" (lines 13-24).
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Melcher, John C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press (open access)

Hay-Press

Patent for improvements in the construction and design of hay presses.
Date: November 22, 1887
Creator: Flato, Friderich W.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sprinker. (open access)

Sprinker.

Patent for a new and improved pesticide sprinkler for cotton plants. This design "provid[es] . . . a relief-valve, so that should the nozzle become stopped up at any time this valve will open and let the fluid escape through the piston without doing any harm to the pump or stopping the vehicle" (lines 14-19).
Date: October 19, 1880
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feed Governor for Cotton Gins. (open access)

Feed Governor for Cotton Gins.

Patent for a new and improved feed-governor for cotton gins. This design "feed[s] to the saws a layer of cotton that is thinner in the center, and the suction of the inner saws will draw in from the thicker edges formed by [this] governor such a portion of cotton as shall make the whole supply to the gin-saws even and regular, thereby preventing all the choking [of existing gins]" (lines 90-96).
Date: December 4, 1883
Creator: Schaefer, Henry P.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Self Packing Cotton Press. (open access)

Self Packing Cotton Press.

Patent for a new and improved self-packing cotton press. This design "consists in a cotton-press constructed with a pivoted double baling-box, a pair of rolls and their driving mechanism for packing the cotton into the baling-box automatically, and a screw-driven follow-block for compressing the cotton into bales" (lines 22-27).
Date: September 25, 1883
Creator: Rummel, Louis C. & Fielder, Emil J.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "consists in combing with the plow a furrow-cutter for the purpose of cutting or dividing the furrow-slice and pulverizing it to a greater or less extent, like a harrow" (lines 13-16).
Date: July 12, 1881
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design "consists, first, in the combination of an adjustable support which is pivoted to the side of the beam, and which has secured to its lower end a series of revolving arms which terminate in broad cutters, for cutting the sod as it is turned over by the mold-board as the plow is drawn along; second, in the revolving cutter, which runs along upon the land side and cuts the sod where the next furrow is to be cut, and thus takes the place of the usual colter, which runs in advance of the plow and cuts the sod just as it is about to be turned over" (lines 13-25).
Date: November 20, 1883
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator (open access)

Cultivator

Patent for "a cultivator of simple and durable construction, capable of being adjusted laterally to any width and vertically to any desired height" (lines 9-12).
Date: July 9, 1889
Creator: Benthall, John C.
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design "consists in the means by which the plow or cultivator standards may be adjusted to regulate the depth of the cultivators or plows" (lines 6-9).
Date: January 4, 1881
Creator: Niederauer, Charles
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Press (open access)

Cotton Press

Patent for steam-powered screw-press for pressing cotton.
Date: April 6, 1884
Creator: O'Daniel, Josiah Dial
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Harvester. (open access)

Cotton Harvester.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-harvester. This design's "object is to provide thimbles which are adapted to be placed over the fingers and thumbs of a person, so as to provide artificial nails, whereby the cotton may be removed from the plants expeditiously, and which may be worn with comfort" (lines 18-23).
Date: December 30, 1884
Creator: Winzenried, Godfrey
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Seed Cleaner. (open access)

Cotton Seed Cleaner.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-seed cleaner. This design "is to be used in connection with a machine for removing short lint from cotton-seed . . . The object of the invention is to provide a new and improved cotton-seed cleaner, which is simple and durable in construction and very effectively removes all impurities from the shell of the seed. . . . The invention consists of a revolving horizontal disk-brush and of a fixed table provided with emery-slabs and perforated plates and in contact with the brush" (lines 8-21).
Date: March 19, 1889
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
Object Type: Patent
System: The Portal to Texas History