Apparatus for Separating and Cleaning Hulls and Trash from Seed Cotton. (open access)

Apparatus for Separating and Cleaning Hulls and Trash from Seed Cotton.

Patent for a machine for separating and cleaning hulls and trash from seed cotton. It is intended to be used in conjunction with a boll threshing machine.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Cass, Thomas M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bottle-Closure (open access)

Bottle-Closure

Patent for a bottle cap for milk bottles and similar types of glass bottles. This is designed to be easily removed, keep the mouth of the bottle clean, and can be cleansed, sterilized, and reused.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Williams, Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Collapsible Foot Rest. (open access)

Collapsible Foot Rest.

Patent for a collapsible foot rest used for shoe shining stands. The invention is meant to simplify and improve the process of one stepping off or on a foot-rest to prevent injury or accident.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Le Laurin, Eugene M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Farming Implement (open access)

Farming Implement

Patent for a new farm implement. It is described as a ridable frame that a farmer could attach assorted tools, making it a multipurpose farm tool.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: McHam, John Warren
System: The Portal to Texas History
Interest-Computing Device. (open access)

Interest-Computing Device.

Patent for a mechanical interest computing device, which is designed to be simple to build, maintain, and operate.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Harris, Ira S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mower. (open access)

Mower.

Patent for a mower that cuts crops that grow in rows and can be cut by a reciprocatory sickle in which the mower frame is attached to a cultivator frame instead of a shovel. One of the gears "is carried by a cultivator wheel for reciprocating the sickle bar by the travel of the cultivator" (lines 20-23), including illustrations.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Pate, William H. & Moss, Turner F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pneumatic Cotton Picker (open access)

Pneumatic Cotton Picker

Patent for an improved Pneumatic Cotton Picker. This invention was created to eliminate the tendancy for leaves to be bundled in with the cotton when picked by other Pneumatic Cotton Pickers.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Radford, Will H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Resilient Wheel (open access)

Resilient Wheel

Patent for new wheel that helps vehicles drive over uneven roadways, providing "proper traction between the road surface and the wheel" (lines13-14).
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Bauer, Frederick H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Resilient Wheel. (open access)

Resilient Wheel.

Patent for "resilient wheels for use in carrying heavy loads across soft, sandy, or rough ground, being primarily intended for use upon farming machinery, trucks, gun carriages, and the like. One of the primary objects of the invention resides in providing a resilient wheel having a flexible yielding rim of relatively great width so constructed that it may flatten to a certain extent under a load to provide a large ground engaging surface so that a firm grip upon the road bed may be obtained and a large bearing surface to support the load provided" (lines 9-24) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Bauer, Frederick H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vegetable-Cutter. (open access)

Vegetable-Cutter.

Patent for a vegetable cutter which is to be used as a grater.
Date: December 10, 1918
Creator: Wittenborn, Edmund A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Watering Plants (open access)

Apparatus for Watering Plants

Patent for improvements in plant-watering apparatuses by inventor Elton F. Reid.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Reid, Elton F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Internal-Combustion-Engine Carbureters. (open access)

Attachment for Internal-Combustion-Engine Carbureters.

Patent for Improvements in Attachments for Internal-Combustion-Engine Carbureters. The "explosive mixture entering the cylinders of the engine may be improved and in this way increase the efficiency of the engine" (lines 12-15).
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Atkinson, John P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Book with Removable Cover (open access)

Book with Removable Cover

Patent for a removable cover for a pass book (a book where a customer's bank deposit account is kept). When a customer's pass book is filled the cover can be removed and refilled with a new pass book.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Malsch, Herman C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fastener for Cotton-Bale Bands. (open access)

Fastener for Cotton-Bale Bands.

Patent for a new and useful fastener for metal bands or straps used in baling cotton. The fastener is designed to overcome problems experienced with currently used fasteners, such as fasteners that break during baling, as well as sharp portions of bands that injure hands.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Cain, James Patrick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fishing-Float. (open access)

Fishing-Float.

Patent for a fishing float "wherein the staff and the buoyant body of the float cooperate in a novel way to hold a line" (lines 11-13) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Davis, James B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Method of Irrigating Plants (open access)

Method of Irrigating Plants

Patent for irrigating plants, trees, shrubs, or others alike by pinpointing where the root has the most moisture to be readily taken up.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Reid, F. Elton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Milk-Warmer (open access)

Milk-Warmer

Patent for Milk-Warmer that heats "milk with the purpose of souring the same in preparation of the milk for churning" (lines 10-12).
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Ault, Ella A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Reamer-Drill for Well-Boring (open access)

Reamer-Drill for Well-Boring

Patent for reamer drills for boring wells. The invention relates to the construction and arrangement of the drill. The drill expands as it leaves the casing to form a drill and reamer, which limits the expansion of the forks.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Walker, William M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerator-Car (open access)

Refrigerator-Car

Patent for a refrigerated train car "containing ice receptacles and equipped with pipe coils through which the brine given off from the ice may be circulated around the walls of the car" (p. 1, lines 10-15) which also circulates the cooled air through the car.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Dietz, Maurice B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Resilient Wheel. (open access)

Resilient Wheel.

Patent for an improved resilient wheel with "a pneumatic cushion interposed between the hub and floating rim" (lines 11-12). The cushion is designed to be easily removable, provide easier access for inflation, better lubrication, and rest on a seating member and bearing for reduced friction.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Kettler, Martin F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Signal Stand (open access)

Signal Stand

Patent for a signal stand designed for use in connection with train order boards employing a semaphore as a signal. "The invention, broadly stated, comprises a stand having suitable feet and arms connected by a body portion, said arms serving as a support for a notched quadrant, which quadrant is secured to the arms, a plurality of interconnected layers, one of said levers having a fulcrum or pivotal mounting with the body portion, another of said levers being formed in two parts, one part of which is provided with a connection with the first-named lever, said lever part being provided at one end with a segmental gear to cooperate the segmental gear carried by the other half of the lever, which latter half is pivotally mounted with its fulcrum in the body of the stand, the free ends of said levers extending beyond the the stand being provided for connection with pull rods, that serve to operate the several blades positioned upon a semaphore stand, and means operatively connected to the handled ends of said layers to cooperate with the notches in the quadrant to maintain the levers in predetermined positions." (Lines 54-77)
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Fleagle, Robert H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sound-Producing Maching (open access)

Sound-Producing Maching

Patent for "sound producing instruments and sound imitators and comprises an assemble of a plurality of sound producing instruments all unified through a central control for us in connection with theaters and particularly moving pictures."
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Illo, Frank
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve-Operating Mechanism (open access)

Valve-Operating Mechanism

Patent for Valve Operating Mechanism that includes "new and useful improvements" (lines 5-6), and "has for its primary object to provide a simple and efficient means for operating a valve at a distance" (lines 10-12).
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Baurens, Jean Marie, Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Weed-Cutter (open access)

Weed-Cutter

Patent for "a simple, light and inexpensive tool which an be handled easily by women working in gardens and fields, particularly for cutting sand burs and cockle burs" (lines 9-13) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 10, 1918
Creator: Klaffert, Katie
System: The Portal to Texas History