Bedstead Fastener. (open access)

Bedstead Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved bedstead-fastener. This design "relates to the construction of a fastener for bedsteads, the object of the invention being to provide a fastener by which the parts are firmly held together and prevented from springing; and to these ends the invention consists of certain details of construction and combination of parts" (lines 8-14).
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Dickey, John S. & McKinney, William P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Appliance for Training Horses. (open access)

Appliance for Training Horses.

Patent for a new and improved appliance for training horses. This design "consists, essentially, in a leg-halter composed of chains or ropes connected by a common ring, or otherwise, and connected with gyves or shackles to encircle the pastern of each leg, a yoke or frame placed upon the withers, or forward or back thereof, and provided with a clamp, and a band passing through the clamp and down to one of the shackles, or to the horse's leg, the other end being carried to a convenient point to be passed by the trainer or attendant" (lines 9-20).
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Dodge, Israel Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Burglar Alarm. (open access)

Burglar Alarm.

Patent for a new and improved burglar alarm. This design "consists in the combination of the door provided with a rod for catching under the spring, a cylinder for receiving powder, a spring-actuated cover for the end of the cylinder, and a spring which explodes the cap . . . The object of [the] invention is to provide a burglar-alarm which will make a loud noise when the door is opened, and in which a spring-actuated cover is made to take the place of a wad or ball" (lines 13-24).
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Bray, Horace Bradford
System: The Portal to Texas History
Buckle. (open access)

Buckle.

Patent for a new and improved buckle. This design is "to provide a device to be applied upon the rump of the animal for the purpose of attachment of the back-strap, the trace-bearers or breeching-straps, and the crupper-strap without sewing. [The] device comprises, essentially, a frame carrying a buckle for the attachment of the back-strap and one for the attachment of the crupper, and a loop for retaining the trace or breeching carrying straps or hip-straps" (lines 9-18).
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Kay, William V.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Buckle and Trace or Breeching Loop (open access)

Combined Buckle and Trace or Breeching Loop

Patent for a "device whereby, in a harness, the back-band and belly-band may readily be connected to a trace-buckle, or a breeching-loop or 'trace-square'" (lines 10-13) without sewing the buckle into other harness pieces.
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Kay, William V.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination-Plow (open access)

Combination-Plow

Patent for improvements to the Combination Plow that can now to plant corn, cotton, and sugar crane. Detailed illustrations are included.
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Weinmann, August A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brick-Machine (open access)

Brick-Machine

Patent for an improvement to the features of Brick Machines, included with detailed illustrations.
Date: August 31, 1886
Creator: Shellenberger, Samuel L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wood Working Machine. (open access)

Wood Working Machine.

Patent for a new and improved wood-working machine. This design "relates to improvements in wood-working machines, and is designed to produce a machine for automatically tapering material in either straight or curved lines. The improvement consists, essentially, in the employment of movable cutters approached or receded by means of a cam or cams, and is adaptable in forming staves and other portions of barrels or other articles in which the parts require a taper in straight or curved lines" (lines 8-17).
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Hourigan, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Loading Cartridges. (open access)

Machine for Loading Cartridges.

Patent for "improvement in machines for loading cartridges" (lines 5-6), with instructions and illustrations
Date: August 10, 1886
Creator: Franklin, Edward A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Bucket. (open access)

Well Bucket.

Patent for a new and improved well bucket. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a body having a valve-seat facing downward in its bottom, a valve having a conical guide upon its upper surface, a flange at its lower end bearing against the seat with a washer and formed with an upwardly-projecting eye or link at its top, and a rod for the attachment of the hoisting-rope passing out at the top of the bucket and having an eye at its lower end connected to the eye of the link" (lines 40-49).
Date: August 24, 1886
Creator: Fellrath, Charles John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam-Engine (open access)

Steam-Engine

Patent for "a new and improved steam-engine, in which the pressure of the live steam is completely and very advantageously utilized," (lines 8-10) including illustrations.
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Rush, Peter S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mold-Board For Plows (open access)

Mold-Board For Plows

Patent for an improvement for the mold boards for plows, adapted for cultivation of sandy soil to disarrange and break the furrow slice on and over the mold board. Included are detail illustrations.
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Kelly, George A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tongue Support for Vehicles. (open access)

Tongue Support for Vehicles.

Patent for a new and improved tongue-support for vehicles. This design "is to provide a spring for bearing downwardly upon the rear end of the tongue, and thereby raising and supporting the front end thereof, to relieve the horses' necks of the weight of the tongue, and thereby enable them to draw the wagon more readily, and with less exertion" (lines 23-29).
Date: August 24, 1886
Creator: Ham, Zachariah Melton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor. (open access)

Motor.

Patent for a new and improved motor. This design consists in "[t]he combination, of a clock-work mechanism, of the spring-shaft, the screw geared thereto, whereby the said screw will be rotated simultaneously with the spring-shaft, the friction-drum, and the brake-bar bearing on the said drum and engaging the screw" (lines 90-95).
Date: August 24, 1886
Creator: Roberts, Robert Edward Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tamping Machine (open access)

Tamping Machine

Patent for the invention of a new and useful improvement in Tamping-Machines. Includes full, clear, and exact description and illustration. Invention relates to an improvement in machines for tamping, intended for tamping dirt under railway-ties (20).
Date: August 24, 1886
Creator: Carley, John, W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Steam Plow (open access)

Steam Plow

Patent for Steam-Plow. "The object of my invention is to provide a new and improved steam-plow, which is simple in construction, has great tractive force, can-not slip, and plows very rapidly and perfectly." (lines 7-10)
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Lay, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Nut Lock. (open access)

Nut Lock.

Patent for a new and improved nut-lock. This design "consists of a slide or continuous collar or ring, made of lead or other soft or compressible metal or material, having a hole so that it will fit or pass over the end of an ordinary bolt, and adapted to be pressed into the threads of the bolt and against the face of an ordinary nut by a suitable die" (lines 16-23).
Date: August 31, 1886
Creator: Shellenberger, Samuel L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ice Machine. (open access)

Ice Machine.

Patent for a new and improved ice machine. This design consists in "[a]n oil-trap for compression ice-machines, consisting of cylinders provided with inclined diaphragms, and having extensions provided with water-chambers and pipes extending down through the same" (lines 96-100). Said pipes are "to communicate with the cylinders, one of said pipes communicating with the extension of one of the cylinders and the other pipe leading from the ammonia-pump, said cylinders having a suitable arrangement of pipes and valves" (lines 1-6).
Date: August 31, 1886
Creator: Diener, Frederic
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fertilizer Distributer. (open access)

Fertilizer Distributer.

Patent for an improved fertilizer distributor to be attached to the farm wagon. Accompanied with illustrations.
Date: August 24, 1886
Creator: Hurley, William G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Folding Lamp Shelf for Pianos. (open access)

Folding Lamp Shelf for Pianos.

Patent for a new and improved lamp shelf for pianos. This design "consists in an arm pivoted to the back of a music-rack and carrying a lamp-shelf, the arm being arranged to swing outward into a horizontal position, and the shelf being connected with the end of the arm by a pivotal connection, which permits of turning it outward and downward into a horizontal position in front of the plane of the music-rack" (lines 22-30).
Date: August 31, 1886
Creator: Prause, Reinhard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Head Rest for Chairs. (open access)

Head Rest for Chairs.

Patent for a new and improved head-rest for chairs. This design consists in "[a] head-rest for chairs, comprising a top support . . . a plate fixed thereto and provided with a socket and guides . . . a ball, fitting socket, and retaining-jaws held in the guide of the plate around the ball" (lines 81-86).
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Ashby, Daniel S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planter. (open access)

Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination . . . of the hopper having the bottom board provided with the slot and the groove, the slide bearing on the bottom board and having the slot, the depending stud engaging the groove, and the oscillating stirrer above the slide and having the arm engaging the slide" (lines 46-53).
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Whitehurst, Esir David
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pruning Implement. (open access)

Pruning Implement.

Patent for a new and improved pruner. This design "has relation to that class of pruning elements in which a concave chisel-edge is formed in the upper end of the blade and one concave jaw of a pair of pruning-shears is formed at the lower end of the blade, while a saw is attached to one side of the blade and a pivoted jaw is attached to the lower end, operating together with the lower concave edge, and it contemplates certain improvements upon the pruning implement [of an earlier patent]" (lines 19-29).
Date: August 17, 1886
Creator: Bartly, Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the suspended rolling gate [and] the toggle-jointed levers . . . connecting the gate with a fixed point" (lines 102-104). It further consists in a lever "pivoted at one end to a fixed point, the lever pivoted to [another] lever near the outer end of the latter, the lower end of the lever being attached to the free end of the lever, the pivoted hand-levers fulcrumed on opposite sides of the gate, and the rod connecting the inner ends of the said hand levers with the connected ends of the [other] levers" (lines 1-8).
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Lewis, John Coleman & Rainey, Willain Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History