Attachment for Locomotives. (open access)

Attachment for Locomotives.

Patent for a safety attachment for locomotives that is simple and prevents unwelcome people from getting into a position to take control of the train. It consists of steam pipes with open jets connected with the boiler that go around the entrances of the cab, and the train engineer can turn a valve and make hot steam project across the entrances.
Date: August 29, 1894
Creator: Rutherford, James Rice
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clothes-Pounder. (open access)

Clothes-Pounder.

Patent for an improved clothes washer that is made up of a cylinder, a piston that is two disks attached together with notches and flared edges, and a packing strip in the groove of the disk edges.
Date: August 14, 1894
Creator: Lewis, Nathan D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Railway-Gate. (open access)

Automatic Railway-Gate.

Patent for an automatic railway-gate or cattle-guard for use "at crossings, the entrances to tunnels, bridges or trestles, or at other places where it is desirable to guard the tracks" (lines 11-13). The invention is a simple and effective way for closing gates, can be operated from a distance, and is controlled by the wheels of passing trains.
Date: August 14, 1894
Creator: Baade, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Book-Holder for Reading-Stands. (open access)

Book-Holder for Reading-Stands.

Patent for "a book holder especially designed to receive large books for reference, such as a dictionary for example, and to so construct the mechanism of the holder that a cradle will be provided for the reception of the book, which cradle will be adapted to be carried upward and outward from the holder in a manner which will bring the book in proper position for consultation, and which mechanism will also act to lower the book, without jar or injury to it, within the holder when the book is no longer required." (Lines 14-26) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: August 21, 1894
Creator: Anderson, Francis John & Irick, William Madison
System: The Portal to Texas History
Andiron. (open access)

Andiron.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive andiron that can easily be moved and holds the logs in place. "The invention consists of an andiron having two dogs or members connected together and a fender removably connected to the front of said dogs and extending over the intervening space or opening" (lines 9-14).
Date: August 28, 1894
Creator: Grogan, John Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretching Spool-Carrier. (open access)

Wire-Stretching Spool-Carrier.

Patent for a wire-stretching spool-carrier that can be easily mounted to the back of a wagon and can stretch wires to the desired amount of tension. Coils are on the mount on the wagon.
Date: August 14, 1894
Creator: Williams, Thomas P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam-Boiler. (open access)

Steam-Boiler.

Patent for a steam-boiler that produces "a water-tube steam generator, which shall be simple in construction, easily repaired, interchangeable parts, and rapid and effective steaming qualities" (lines 16-19).
Date: August 7, 1894
Creator: Parker, Charles E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Coffee or Tea Pot. (open access)

Steam Coffee or Tea Pot.

Patent for a steam coffee or tea pot that has "double walls forming an inner and outer chamber, an interiorly arranged spout connecting said chambers and a vent tube arranged in the spout communicating with the inner chamber" (lines 77-81).
Date: August 7, 1894
Creator: Laube, Godfried
System: The Portal to Texas History
Punching-Machine. (open access)

Punching-Machine.

Patent for a simple and durable punching-machine for metalworking that punching metal and feeds it forward. The invention is made up of " a carriage adapted to support the sheet to be punched, and provided with a toothed bar, a rock shaft carrying a pawl adapted to engage the said toothed bar to move the carriage forward, and a punch lever adapted to receive a swinging motion from the said shaft, the said lever being connected with the punch to move the latter downward to punch the sheet" (lines 14-22).
Date: August 14, 1894
Creator: Walsh, Richard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ice-Hook. (open access)

Ice-Hook.

Patent for a simple and inexpensive ice-hook that has an improved design for holding, carrying, and lifting ice, and can be easily operated by one hand.
Date: August 7, 1894
Creator: Wesson, Miley B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sheet-Feeder. (open access)

Sheet-Feeder.

Patent for a simple sheet-feeder that separates the sheets from a pile so they can be fed one at a time. The patent improves on the suction-roller mechanism that takes a sheet and rolls it into a printer. It does not use grippers or mechanical means for grabbing a single sheet.
Date: August 14, 1894
Creator: Clarke, George R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dental or Surgical Chair. (open access)

Dental or Surgical Chair.

Patent for a dental or surgical chair that is adjustable, light and portable. The chair can be adjusted "without the employment of a raising device using fluid or any sub-basal mechanism" (lines 57-59), and can be adjusted with little effort. The chair's decent can be monitored. It can be easily assembled and disassembled for transport.
Date: August 28, 1894
Creator: Stiles, Edmund Pease
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fumigator. (open access)

Fumigator.

Patent for an improved fumigator that has a furnace, a fan casing, a fan inside the casing, a discharge in the casing, an air chamber with dampered openings between the furnace and the casing, a perforated partition between the furnace and the chamber, and a nozzle and hose coming from the driving device.
Date: August 21, 1894
Creator: Horne, Edward G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Gin. (open access)

Cotton-Gin.

Patent for a cotton-gin that "has for its object to provide means for operating upon or permitting lint cotton, wool and other fibrous material to be ginned from a roll by means of saws as is commonly done in working seed cotton without injury to the mechanism" (lines 12-17).
Date: August 7, 1894
Creator: Haynes, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History