Cloth Rack. (open access)

Cloth Rack.

Patent for a new and improved clothes rack. This design "essentially consists in constructing a vertical rectangular revolving frame, each side of which carries a tier of racks. Each of the racks is provided with a support on which the bolt of cloth or similar material may be readily turned, and has pivoted parallel to and in front of said bolt a roller, which retains the same in place, and over which the free edge of the cloth passes from the lower surface of the bolt, and which, in addition, facilitates the unrolling of the cloth" (lines 21-32).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Palmer, William Washington
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Tool. (open access)

Combination Tool.

Patent for a new and improved multi-tool. This design "relates to improvements in combination tools, and is designed to produce a tool in which the wrench, hammer, and screwdriver are combined in a compact and useful form. The improvement consists, essentially, in the manner of combining the parts and in the particular construction thereof" (lines 10-17).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Miller, Walker C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Milk Pan and Curd or Cheese Mold. (open access)

Combined Milk Pan and Curd or Cheese Mold.

Patent for a new and improved combined milk pan and curd or cheese mold. This design "consists in a dairy or kitchen utensil composed, mainly, of a pan with spout and stopper, and a detachable screen-cover to the pan constructed to also form a mold, and otherwise of peculiar construction" (lines 8-12).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Noessel, Sarah J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cuff Button and Holder. (open access)

Cuff Button and Holder.

Patent for a new and improved cuff button and holder. This design consists in "[a] cuff button and holder having in combination a shank-plate, two buttons, one attached at each end of the shank-plate, and a clamp-bar, one end of which is for attachment to the shirt-sleeve, and the other end having a device to couple with said shank-plate" (lines 1-6).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Stuart, John A. & Woodmansee, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cloth Cutting Apparatus. (open access)

Cloth Cutting Apparatus.

Patent for a new and improved cloth-cutting machine. This design "relates to cloth-cutting apparatus, and particularly to that class wherein the fabric or other material to be cut is operated upon by revolving cutters; and it has for its object to provide devices of this character which may be enabled to cut the goods by a continuous forward movement of the said cutters" (lines 9-15).
Date: August 18, 1885
Creator: Monday, Robert Owens
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a removable churn-body, of the frame, with a friction-wheel mounted thereon, a dasher-spindle provided with friction-wheel, movable notched bar, and spring-rod" (lines 79-83).
Date: August 18, 1885
Creator: Conner, Laurence H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve Gear. (open access)

Valve Gear.

Patent for a new and improved valve-gear. This design "relates to improvements in mechanical movements adapted especially to the valve-gear of steam-engines, and is designed to produce a device having a reciprocatory movement having intermediate impulses" (lines 9-14).
Date: August 18, 1885
Creator: Pinkham, Delmar D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Brake. (open access)

Wagon Brake.

Patent for a new and improved wagon brake. This design consists "[i]n a wagon-brake, the combination of the lever, provided with a pawl having the heel, the ratchet-wheel, and the catch, having the projecting portion . . . [and] a break-lever provided with a brake-lock, the ratchet-wheel, [and] barrel connected to the cord by a brake-lever (lines 92-100).
Date: August 25, 1885
Creator: Barmore, Albert King
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire stretcher. This design "consist[s] of the bar notched at one end to receive a barbed wire, and provided with a ferrule at its opposite end, having the short arm and the long arm, the stud serrated on its inner side at the outer end of the arm, and the serrated cam-lever pivoted between the arms, the bar being adapted to be used as a lever in connection with a fence-post as a fulcrum" (lines 53-61).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: McMickin, Levi Scott
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel. (open access)

Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved wheel. This design "relates to improvements in that class of expanding wheels in which the hub is provided with an inclined abutment, on which the inclined ends of the spokes rest, the said spokes being clamped in position and adjusted on the abutment by clamping collars; and the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts" (lines 8-15).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Mecham, George Wate
System: The Portal to Texas History
Magneto-Electric Telegraphy. (open access)

Magneto-Electric Telegraphy.

Patent for a machine that telegraphs messages between distant points by means of induced currents that produce magnets without the use of battery current, including illustrations.
Date: August 18, 1885
Creator: Brown, Fred H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design "relates to improvements in gates of that class known as 'tilting and folding' gates, and is designed to produce a gate that will automatically lock itself when down and close the passage by means which will not interfere in the least with the operation of the tilting" (lines 9-15).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Howe, Charles P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electrical Alarm for Window Screens. (open access)

Electrical Alarm for Window Screens.

Patent for a new and improved window alarm. This design consists in "the window-frame, having the contact-springs connected in open circuit with an electrical alarm, with the screen or frame in the window-frame, having the double contact-points, the contact-springs, and the wires, the contact-point bearing against the spring . . . the point, spring, double contact-points, and the contact-springs being connected together in open-circuit, whereby an alarm will be sounded either by raising the screen or frame, by cutting one of the wires, or by pushing one of the wires aside" (lines 76-89).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Garrett, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fastening for Blind Slats. (open access)

Fastening for Blind Slats.

Patent for a new and improved fastening for blind slats. This design "consists in a device for use with a blind to clamp the slat-rod, and thereby retain the slats more or less open or closed" (lines 7-9).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Evans, George F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Self Cleaning Plow. (open access)

Self Cleaning Plow.

Patent for a new and improved self-cleaning plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a mold-board having a plane face on the larger portion of its area, a blade having an axle journaled near the center of the said plane, a wheel journaled in the plow, with its rim parallel to and extending below the landside of the plow, a beveled gear-wheel upon the said wheel-axle, and another beveled wheel upon the blade-axle, engaging each other" (lines 79-87).
Date: August 18, 1885
Creator: Jones, Allen
System: The Portal to Texas History
Metallic Compound. (open access)

Metallic Compound.

Patent for "the process of making alloys for journal-bearings" (lines 42-43) of more durable quality than those formed with "brass and bronzes" (line 10).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Kavanaugh, Frank
System: The Portal to Texas History
Marking Device. (open access)

Marking Device.

Patent for a new and improved merchandise tag. This design consists of a stick "provided with means for holding it fixed in its position after it has been inserted and having hinged to its outer end the tag having a strip of suitable material secured around its edges, as shown, so as to form on both sides of the tag the flanges adapted to receive the removable, reversible, and interchangeable cards (lines 1-8).
Date: August 25, 1885
Creator: Brown, Sampson Harvey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Necktie Fastening. (open access)

Necktie Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved tie pin. This design "is to provide a simple and reliable device for fastening neck-ties or cravats, in place of the elastic loop and other means usually employed. To that end, by perforating the collar-button and providing the cravat-shield with a spring-loop, [the design] obtain[s] combined collar-button and cravat-fastener" (lines 7-14).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Hutches, Benjamin F., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Earth-Auger. (open access)

Earth-Auger.

Patent for an earth auger.
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Porter, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dress-Chart. (open access)

Dress-Chart.

Patent for dress-chart, with illustrations. The purpose of this dress-chart relating to "pattern charts for cutting any and all garments" regardless of man, woman, or child (lines 9-11).
Date: August 25, 1885
Creator: Northen, Mary Eva
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Picker. (open access)

Cotton Picker.

Patent for a new and improved cotton picker. This design has a spring-actuating "mechanism located upon the casing, and a hood for inclosing said mechanism hinged to one of the side walls of the casing and held closed by a fastening device . . . [and] the casing thereof, the endless picker-belt, flanged drums, and the toothed disks contained within said casing . . . and a pulley and belt for winding the spring" (lines 1-12).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Martin, John Tillman
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton, Corn, and Pea Planter. (open access)

Cotton, Corn, and Pea Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination, in a planter and fertilizer-distributer, of a revolving drum having openings communicating with a groove in its periphery for sowing fertilizer, and a seeding mechanism arranged above the drum, whereby the seeds will fall into the groove of the drum and be thereby conveyed to the furrow" (lines 3-9).
Date: August 18, 1885
Creator: Applewhite, David Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History