Air Ship. (open access)

Air Ship.

Patent for air ship design lifted by balloon with vertical adjustable sails. Accompanied with illustrations.
Date: November 23, 1886
Creator: Appling, Marby P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Tightener (open access)

Wire-Tightener

Patent for invented certain new and useful improvement in Wire-Tightener invention relates to an improvement in and it consists in the peculiar construction and combination of devices, that will be more fully set here in after and particularly pointed out in the claim.
Date: January 22, 1889
Creator: Bulter, Constant, B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hypodermic Syringe. (open access)

Hypodermic Syringe.

Patent for a new and improved hypodermic syringe. This design consists in "the combination of a barrel, a sleeve secured to said barrel and having a diaphragm adapted to close the end of the barrel, a needle-carrier having a cylindrical projection working in the sleeve, an outlet-tube secured to the needle-carrier and extending through the diaphragm in the sleeve, and a coiled spring arranged around said tube within the cylindrical projection of the needle-carrier" (lines 71-80).
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Dunbar, Addison
System: The Portal to Texas History
Uterine-Supporter. (open access)

Uterine-Supporter.

Patent for a new and improved pessary, or uterine supporter. This design "provides an easy and flexible support . . . and one that will adapt itself to the flexions of the body . . . and one that can be readily removed" (lines 36-40).
Date: February 10, 1880
Creator: Long, Cornelius Pruett
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grain Register. (open access)

Grain Register.

Patent for a new and improved grain register. This design "is to furnish registers for recording the quantity of grain measured and sacked, and which shall be simple in construction and accurate in operation" (lines 12-15).
Date: September 28, 1880
Creator: Richardson, William Blewford
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sorghum Boiler and Evaporator. (open access)

Sorghum Boiler and Evaporator.

Patent for a new and improved boiler and evaporator for sorghum. This design consists in "[an] evaporating pan having the partition walls, the elbow-tubes pivoted in the lower edge of said partitions, and capable of being turned parallel to the bottom of said pan at any angle or perpendicular thereto, [a] copper coil laid in a serpentine groove, made in the bottom of said pan, one end passing through one end of said pan and connecting with a steam generator, and having a valve to regulate the flow of steam, the other end of said coil passing through the other end of said pan" (lines 83-94).
Date: February 16, 1886
Creator: Wynn, John Clinton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved seed planter. This design "entirely do[es] away with the use of belts in the operation of the two dropping-cylinders, so that there will be no slipping of the belts upon the pulleys, and thus caus[ing] the seed[s] to be planted at different distances apart" (lines 22-27).
Date: August 24, 1880
Creator: Ward, Michael
System: The Portal to Texas History
Recording Door-Lock (open access)

Recording Door-Lock

Patent for "a continuous-recording lock suitable for bonded warehouses, factories, stores, public buildings, offices &c., and by a slight modification applicable, also, for private residences" (lines 7-11).
Date: January 1, 1889
Creator: Ferguson, George J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coffee Pot. (open access)

Coffee Pot.

Patent for improvements to coffee pot design including a bagged apparatus to hold grounds that are then steamed through a jet venting apparatus to brew the drink with accompanying illustrations.
Date: December 31, 1889
Creator: Stidham, James Simeon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railroad Nut-Wrench. (open access)

Railroad Nut-Wrench.

Patent for a wrench that is used to fix railroad tracks, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: March 2, 1886
Creator: Forbes, Alston J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rail-Joint (open access)

Rail-Joint

Patent for an improvement in rail joints, including illustrations.
Date: December 6, 1887
Creator: Ferguson, George Jones
System: The Portal to Texas History
Open Link. (open access)

Open Link.

Patent for a new and improved carabiner ("open link"). This design adds a lip to the hinge to enable easier intentional opening and to discourage unintentional opening from striking against a foreign body.
Date: December 14, 1880
Creator: Sanders, John Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Picture Case for Tombstones. (open access)

Picture Case for Tombstones.

Patent for a new and improved picture frame for tombstones. This design, "it will be seen . . . is cheap and strong, and will perfectly protect the picture or memento, and that when in place in the tombstone its outer surface will stand flush with the outer surface of the stone, and by securing the case or frame in the stone by means of the metal or cement cast around the case, it will be seen that the case cannot be removed from the stone without breaking the stone, so that there will be no danger of the memento or picture being meddled with or taken out of the picture or frame" (lines 78-89).
Date: May 6, 1884
Creator: Holloman, Harvey Allen & Green, William Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Stalk Cutter and Puller. (open access)

Cotton Stalk Cutter and Puller.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-stalk cutter and puller. This design "is to facilitate the removal of cotton-stalks from land in preparing it for subsequent cultivation" (lines 17-19).
Date: November 22, 1881
Creator: Richardson, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Press. (open access)

Cotton Press.

Patent for a new and improved cotton press. This design "consists of a horizontal press with reciprocating follower, worked by power, the press being arranged to receive the cotton from a chute descending from the floor above the press, the said press and the driving mechanism being constructed and arranged . . . specifically" (lines 7-13).
Date: January 22, 1884
Creator: Allen, John Chapman
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Scraper. (open access)

Cotton Scraper.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-scraper. This design "is to produce a cotton-scraper of economical construction that will cut a wider furrow with lighter draft, do the work more perfectly, and at the same time be more easily held to the row than the scrapers in the present general use" (lines 11-16).
Date: February 2, 1886
Creator: Cooper, Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator and Planter Combined. (open access)

Cultivator and Planter Combined.

Patent for a new and improved planter and cultivator. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the frame and the axle journaled in boxes on said frame and in bearings on the tongue, of the tongue journaled on the axle, the cross-bar connecting the side bar of the frame and passed through the tongue, and the screw-threaded rod passed through the side bars of the frame and through the rear end of the tongue and provided with adjusting-nut" (lines 53-61).
Date: December 31, 1889
Creator: Green, William R. & Green, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seeder. (open access)

Seeder.

Patent for a new and improved seed-planter. This design "consists in the combination of the seed-hopper, the reciprocating seed-slide, and a sieve or screen suspended from the seed-slide and reciprocating therewith for sowing the seeds broadcast" (lines 10-14).
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Lovin, William Milton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse-Power Machines. (open access)

Horse-Power Machines.

Patent for new and improved cog-wheel designed to improve horse-powered machines that are used in "flouring mills, and agricultural, and other machines" (lines 16-17) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 25, 1880
Creator: Hooker, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Horse Hay Rake. (open access)

Horse Hay Rake.

Patent for a new and improved axle for hay rakes. This design consists in "[t]he rake-head comprising the middle section and end sections, and the links having their opposite ends pivoted, respectively, to the front and rear side at the outer ends of the [one] section and the inner ends of the [other] sections" (lines 19-24).
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Milam, Moses L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Badge. (open access)

Design for a Badge.

Design patent for a badge, "consisting of a plate or body ornamented on one side with the representation of a rising sun, an arm and hand, a serpent, and a shackle and lock" (lines 43-46). The accompanying illustration is not available.
Date: July 26, 1887
Creator: Horton, Henry A. R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for improvements to car-coupling using a vertically-moving pin for locking the cars together.
Date: November 14, 1882
Creator: Blackley, George I.; Nicholson, John I. & Holloman, Harvey A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for "a new and useful improvement in car-couplings" (lines 5-6), with instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 15, 1886
Creator: Ferguson, George Jones
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for automatic car-coupling for passenger and freight cars.
Date: April 26, 1887
Creator: Ferguson, George Jones
System: The Portal to Texas History