Machinery for Irrigating Purposes (open access)

Machinery for Irrigating Purposes

Patent for a machine that irrigates with a water wheel. The water wheel is connected to a float and a rod connected that is connected to a crank on the shaft of the wheel.
Date: September 25, 1888
Creator: Owen, Benajah Dotte
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Stamping Envelopes (open access)

Apparatus for Stamping Envelopes

Patent for "a means whereby with one motion a stamp will be supplied from the'apparatus, moistened, and placed in position upon a letter, wrapper, or parcel adapted to receive it, and wherein a number of stamps may be consecutively placed when and as desired" (lines 10-15).
Date: September 24, 1889
Creator: Helland, Hans & Matzow, Frantz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clock Striking Mechanism. (open access)

Clock Striking Mechanism.

Patent for a new and improved clock-chimes. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the chime of bells in the clock case, of the wheel having the lateral pins, the rock-shaft, a lever extending from the rock-shaft and engaging the said pins, and the hammer arms respectively connected with the rock-shaft by the short arm" (lines 21-26).
Date: September 22, 1885
Creator: Witherspoon, Frank.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Band for Paper, Currency, &c. (open access)

Band for Paper, Currency, &c.

Patent for a new and improved money clip. This design consists in "[a] band for packages provided with tongues projecting toward each other and an elastic, whereby when the band is in use the tongues will project in opposite directions to receive the elastic" (lines 57-61).
Date: September 6, 1887
Creator: Matthews, Oscar Semmes
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn Sheller. (open access)

Corn Sheller.

Patent for a new and improved corn-sheller. This design, "[o]n its rear face, at the upper end of the body of the corn-sheller . . . provide[s] a hinged nubber-plate, which serves as a supporting-arm, and is constructed . . . for use in breaking or cutting off the smaller end of the ear of corn, at which end unsound kernels of corn are frequently found. The nubber-plate is hinged . . . to the upper end of the rear face of the body, and when opened out extends at nearly a right angle from the body and inclines slightly downward. When folded, the nubber-plate rests against the rear face of the body" (lines 39-52).
Date: September 13, 1887
Creator: Price, Benjamin B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Making Soap. (open access)

Apparatus for Making Soap.

Patent for a new and improved soap-making machine. This design "consist[s] of grease and soda tanks, the latter tank having a diaphragm . . . a register-tank, pipes leading from said grease and soda tanks to said register-tank, a pivoted converter, a rotary shaft in said converter and blades, a shaft journaled in uprights attached to said converter and provided with a crank and a bevel wheel, the latter gearing with a bevel-wheel on said rotary shaft in the converter, and removable furnaces for said grease tank and converter" (lines 21-32).
Date: September 20, 1887
Creator: Grant, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Artificial Leg. (open access)

Artificial Leg.

Patent for a new and improved artificial leg. This design "consists in certain improvements in the construction and arrangement of parts in artificial legs, so as to make them more durable, easier of repair, and more comfortable to the wearer" (lines 11-15).
Date: September 19, 1882
Creator: Wolf, Peter M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Amalgamator. (open access)

Amalgamator.

Patent for a new and improved amalgamator. This design "consists in placing in the bottoms of the chambers a number of iron balls or other suitable-shaped pieces of amalgamated iron, which have sufficient room to move freely among themselves, and then forcing up through the balls or pieces of iron, in contradistinction to forcing it down over their tops, the amalgamated ore and water, so as to cause the pieces of iron to vibrate, and thus to grind and break the pieces of quartz passing up through them" (lines 14-24).
Date: September 12, 1882
Creator: Schmidt, Erich Franz & Streernwitz, William Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Forcing Beer from Kegs. (open access)

Apparatus for Forcing Beer from Kegs.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for forcing beer from kegs. This design "relates to an improved method of keeping atmospheric pressure upon beer or other aerated liquid contained in a keg or similar receptacle, so as to prevent the same from becoming stale or flat from the evaporating of its dissolved gas. It consists in improvements in the apparatus by means of which the above-stated result is accomplished; and it further consists in the construction and novel arrangement of parts" (lines 16-25).
Date: September 14, 1886
Creator: Surratt, George & Heyman, Harry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Composition For Preserving Food (open access)

Composition For Preserving Food

Patent for an improvement in the Fumigating Composition for Preserving and Purifying Purposes using combustible compositions.
Date: September 28, 1886
Creator: Radam, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lock (open access)

Lock

Patent for "improvements in locks, having special reference to locks for the doors of freight-cars; and it has for its object to provide a strong lock so constructed as to be comparatively safe from the attacks of lockpickers" (lines 8-13).
Date: September 11, 1888
Creator: Bergman, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lawn Mower. (open access)

Lawn Mower.

Patent for a new and improved lawn-mower. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a bifurcated frame, a driving-wheel supported therein, gears secured to opposite sides of said wheel, inclined pitmen-driving shafts carrying at their inner ends pinions to engage said gears, guide-plates supported by the lower and forward end of the frame, cutters provided with slots and supported between said guide-plates, pitmen connecting the cutters and shafts, and adjusting-screws applied to said plates and cutters" (lines 23-33).
Date: September 18, 1888
Creator: Grothaus, Frederick E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mail Bag Fastening. (open access)

Mail Bag Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved mail-bag fastener. This design "is to provide a fastening for mail-bags, which may be quickly manipulated to fasten or unfasten the bag. To this end the invention consists, essentially, of a slide formed with key-hole slots and carried by an overlapping flap, the said slide being adapted to engaged headed studs that are secured to one side of the main portion of the pouch and passed through apertures formed in the other side of the pouch" (lines 7-16).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Roosevelt, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle Wheel. (open access)

Vehicle Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle wheel. This design "consists of a hub formed of a tube provided with an annular shoulder, and having its outer end threaded, on which threaded end a nut is screwed, between the wider inner end of which the nut and the shoulder of the tube the inner ends of the spokes are clamped, cushion bands and rings and metal bands and rings being interposed between the ends and sides of the spokes and the tube, its shoulder, and the inner end of the nut" (lines 11-20).
Date: September 26, 1882
Creator: Drauly, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Life Raft. (open access)

Life Raft.

Patent for boat state rooms that convert into life rafts.
Date: September 9, 1884
Creator: Adams, John R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle Top. (open access)

Vehicle Top.

Patent for a new and improved vehicle-top. This design "consists in the combination, of a vehicle-top, with upright rods having their upper ends bent to conform to the shape of the roof, the upper ends of the rods being secured to strips held on the under side of the roof of the top, and on which rods curtains are held to slide up and down" (lines 12-18).
Date: September 30, 1884
Creator: McCurdy, Thomas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Liniment. (open access)

Liniment.

Patent for “a compound for the treatment of diseases of the kidney, rheumatism, neuralgia, diarrhea, dysentery, cramps, colic, and pains, and dyspepsia” (lines 8-11) which includes ingredients and their measurements . The ingredients are alcohol, spirits of turpentine, spirits of camphor, aqua-ammonia, tincture of opium, chloroform, tincture of ginger, oil of sassafras, balsam of fir, essence of peppermint, oil of black pepper, oil of origanum, tincture of capsicum, tincture of guaiacum, and sulphuric ether.
Date: September 25, 1885
Creator: Christopher, George Washington & Grant, James M.
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
Tug and Hip Strap Attachment for Harness. (open access)

Tug and Hip Strap Attachment for Harness.

Patent for a new and improved tug and hip strap attachment for harnesses. This design "relates to an improved tug and hip strap attachment for harness which shall admit of the rapid and convenient attachment or detachment of the horse or horses to or from the vehicle, and which, in case the animal becomes unruly, shall enable it to be instantly detached, thereby avoiding danger of accidents; and it has for its object to provide a device of this class which shall possess superior advantages in point of simplicity, durability, and general efficiency" (lines 22-32).
Date: September 1, 1885
Creator: Lain, John James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ink Fountain for Printing Machines. (open access)

Ink Fountain for Printing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved ink fountain for printing machines. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the shell-shaped frame having an inclined bottom, a hole in the lower part of the front end wall, and a socket provided with a thumb-screw, a vertical arm passing through the said socket and provided with a clamp at its lower end, a roller for distributing ink, journaled at the front of the shell and vertically adjustable therewith, and the removable reservoir having a gate, an inclined bottom, and an opening corresponding with the hole in the shell" (lines 17-27).
Date: September 29, 1885
Creator: Bomar, Thomas E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Landside Cutter for Plows. (open access)

Landside Cutter for Plows.

Patent for a new and improved landside cutter for plows. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a colter . . . and the landside attachment secured to the landside of the plow, the said landside attachment having the laterally-extending cutting-wing . . . the plate in front of the landside attachment, and the colter on the front edge of the said plate" (lines 66-75).
Date: September 21, 1886
Creator: Reed, Benjamin B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Mixing Mortar. (open access)

Machine for Mixing Mortar.

Patent for a new and improved machine for mixing mortar. This design "consists in a cylinder composed of bars set into open heads and rotating beneath a hopper . . . so that the material to be mixed rests upon the cylinder, and is rasped or grated off by the motion of the cylinder and received on the inside of the cylinder between the bars. . . . When the material is received inside the cylinder it is carried around by the rotary motion, and is turned over and forced out" (lines 7-22).
Date: September 14, 1880
Creator: Schellenberger, Samuel L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wind Wheel. (open access)

Wind Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved windmill. This design "consists in a novel arrangement and combination of wings or gates in a casing outside and independent of the wheel, whereby provision is made for adjusting the position of said wings, and consequently regulating the speed of the wheel, according to the force of the wind" (lines 7-13).
Date: September 21, 1880
Creator: Smith, Hilliard Bonaparte.
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