Clothes-Pounder. (open access)

Clothes-Pounder.

Patent for a clothes pounder "which will inclose a body of air and expel the same when it is brought down upon the clothes forcing water through the clothes and filling with water an upper chamber, and which when lifted from the clothes will release a body of water at the top of the pounder and cause water to pass through the clothes" (lines 12-19).
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Beaver, William G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Construction of Railroads. (open access)

Construction of Railroads.

Patent for an improved railroad construction that consists of "an all metallic railroad which will not be very expensive, will be so strong that an accident is practically impossible, and which may be very rapidly laid" (lines 11-14).
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Arnold, Eliphalet L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Washing and Scrubbing Gas. (open access)

Apparatus for Washing and Scrubbing Gas.

Patent for a washer-scrubber that cleans gas from "tarry matter, ammonia, sulphureted hydrogen, carbonic acid and other impurities" (lines 14-16). The machine divides gas into streams, sprays it with washing liquor, spreads it over reticulated and perforated plates.
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Fitzgerald, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Brake. (open access)

Car-Brake.

Patent for a car brake that "automatically absorb[s] the slack in car brake connecting rods which slack is induced by the wear of the brake shoes and fastening and the stretching of the parts by the strain in applying the brake" (lines 7-12). It is adjustable, inexpensive, and adjustable.
Date: March 14, 1893
Creator: Ferguson, George J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive churn that works efficiently and does not take up much space. It consists of a solid upper portion, a lower portion, a horizontal bar that connects the two, a bracing frame, a shaft, bearings, a band wheel attached to the shaft, an adjustable drive wheel, a crank wheel, and a dasher.
Date: March 21, 1893
Creator: Gibson, Wyatt
System: The Portal to Texas History
Beehive. (open access)

Beehive.

Patent for a beehive that is meant "to provide for the ready or convenient "robbing" of the hive without subjecting the bees to injury , as experienced in the old way, by smoking the bees out of the hive" (lines 16-20).
Date: March 21, 1893
Creator: Hawkins, Jackson D. & Ray, Francis M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adding-Machine. (open access)

Adding-Machine.

Patent for an inexpensive, simple, easily operated, and improved registering machine that is meant to add numbers without mistakes. It uses revoluble number wheels and a spring-returned shaft among other materials.
Date: March 21, 1893
Creator: Brooks, Augustus J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Black-Land Plow. (open access)

Black-Land Plow.

Patent for a plow that operates in mud or sticky dirt without becoming clogged and has an improved share and mold board.
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Vestal, William B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clothes-Pin. (open access)

Clothes-Pin.

Patent for a simple, metallic, and inexpensive clothes pin that can be used with a rope or wire line. It can be attached easily but will not blow off. It does not rust or tear the clothes.
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Crump, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vine-Cutter. (open access)

Vine-Cutter.

Patent for a vine cutter that is meant "to simplify the construction of devices of this character by means of an integral formation of the cutter" (lines 8-10). It can be "adapted to be applied to a plow standard or foot consisting of a pair of cutting knives or shares integrally connected by a front cross-piece with a single central opening therein for the passage therethrough of a single securing bolt, the knives being rearwardly divergent and obliquely arranged at a downward angle, the lower edges of said knives or shares being sharpened and their rear ends curved upwardly, the said lower edges of the knives or shares adjacent to the said cross-piece being formed blunt" (lines 90-102).
Date: March 14, 1893
Creator: Wheeler, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for an improved washing machine that consists of a sheet-metal body with two tubs, rubbing-boards, a fire-box under the body, bails, and springs with hooks.
Date: March 21, 1893
Creator: Conner, Joshua Harley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for a practical, simple, and efficient washing machine that cleans soiled fabrics with the minimum amount of labor in a small amount of time, without wearing out the fabrics.
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Snider, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for an improved wind wheel that has "every other blade...has a right angled extension or cup to catch the wind, the blades thus formed being set in the hub and rim of the wheel so as to have said right angled portions where they will receive the full force of the wind" (lines 17-22). A ring supports the angled portions of the windmill blades.
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Bowman, Charles R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine-Brake. (open access)

Machine-Brake.

Patent for a break that "the device may be brought to a stop either gradually or instantaneously as may be desired. The break is a reciprocative one and comprises a rubber or other elastic or yielding wheel designed to engage the periphery of the fly wheel of the motor and a lug, tooth or analogous provision for engagement with a tooth of a ratchet wheel on the said fly wheel; in operating the break the rubber wheel is first brought into contact with the fly wheel and then by continued movement of the brake lever the said lug or projection enters a tooth of the ratchet wheel and stops the revolution of the same" (lines 14-27).
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Boulte, Adolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lumber-Truck. (open access)

Lumber-Truck.

Patent for a simple and durable lumber truck that is "arranged to conveniently load and carry lumber to and from kilns and other places" (lines 9-11). It has double flanged wheels in independent frames that are connected by crossbars.
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Dodge, Edward
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk-Breaker. (open access)

Stalk-Breaker.

Patent for a stalk-breaker that breaks "the stalks into small pieces and which will be under the control of the driver so as to be thrown in and out of gear at will, and in which the breaker mechanism will be so constructed that it will give when an unyielding substance is run against, thereby preventing breakage or damage to the machine" (lines 13-20).
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: James, Will S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mandrew Attachment. (open access)

Mandrew Attachment.

Patent for an improved, simple, inexpensive, durable, and efficient mandrel attachment that can be easily attached, detached, and adjusted. It has "a bar at one end with a plate for its attachment and at the other end with a cam and eccentric for detachable connection and adjustment the support carrying the cam and eccentric being hinged so as to drop down so that cylinder work can be slipped over the mandrel and then the eccentric and cam raised up and tightened to the bar to hold the work to be performed" (lines 18-27).
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Bosley, Lee W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace. (open access)

Trace.

Patent for a trace in which the "portion of the trace in which the eye is located, and which is adapted for engagement with a single tree, will be rendered as durable as any other portion of the trace" (lines 9-13).
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Saettler, Ernest S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock (open access)

Nut Lock

Patent for invented a new and useful Nut-Lock. Invention relates to improvements in nut locks of the class known as "spring and ratchet," for the purpose of proving a simple, cheap and easily operated nut lock without injury to any parts, and in which the locking means are concealed and protected while in the operative positions (10-15)
Date: March 14, 1893
Creator: Arnold, Eliphalet L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trephine. (open access)

Trephine.

Patent for an improved, simple, durable, inexpensive, and efficient trephine that is easily assembled and takes up little space. It retains better results than other trephines.
Date: March 21, 1893
Creator: MacKenzie, Joseph Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor. (open access)

Motor.

Patent for a churn-motor that provides "an improved churn-operating mechanism which shall be cheap and simple in its construction, easy to operate, and readily adjustable for all the purposes for which occasion may require" (lines 15-20).
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: McAfee, Henry P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay-Press. (open access)

Hay-Press.

Patent for an inexpensive, durable, easily-operated, and powerful hay press that packs hay and similar materials. It consists of a baling chamber, a power platform, a stub shaft, a grooveless power wheel, a tire on the upper side of the wheel, a roller, and a draft-pole.
Date: March 21, 1893
Creator: Gressett, Lawrence Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grate. (open access)

Grate.

Patent for an improved grate that is adapted "for use in stoves as well as in fire paces, and which, being composed of separate bars, may be repaired by inserting new bars, thus saving that portion of the grate which remains intact, as cannot be done with grates formed of a single casting" (lines 18-23).
Date: March 28, 1893
Creator: Chollar, Benjamin Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screw-Jack. (open access)

Screw-Jack.

Patent for a simple, efficient, and economical lifting jack "which is particularly designed for removing and replacing the brasses in the journal boxes of freight, passenger and other railway cars, and which is so constructed that it can bear against the shoulder formed by the concave part of the car wheel in proximity to the tread and thus avoid the employment of special blocking for the jack, thereby enabling it to be quickly set and operated at any place without preparation of blocking as a foundation for sustaining the jack" (lines 10-21).
Date: March 7, 1893
Creator: Quinn, William
System: The Portal to Texas History