Cloth Bucket or Vessel. (open access)

Cloth Bucket or Vessel.

Patent for a cloth bucket or vessel to place milk or water in to keep it cool when ice is not available. One places the bucket in the shade and the air circulates freely through the bucket. The bucket is thick enough that it will not drip, but is breathable to allow aeration and evaporation.
Date: January 14, 1896
Creator: Slack, Robert A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Barrel Truck and Support. (open access)

Combined Barrel Truck and Support.

Patent for "a combination of devices for hoisting and hauling and supporting barrels and other receptacles for use in stores and other places" (lines 8-11).
Date: February 9, 1897
Creator: Hoff, John P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balanced Pump. (open access)

Balanced Pump.

Patent for a new and improved balanced pump. This design "relates to improvements in balanced pumps having two vertical receiving-cylinders provided with vertically-reciprocating plungers, and two vertical delivery-cylinders provided with plunging-barrels, all being provided with suitable valves operating automatically in conjunction therewith; and the objects of [the] invention are, first, to provide a pump by means of which water or other fluids may be conducted or raised with but little propelling power, and . . . to afford facilities for readily attaching it to be driven by any steam-engine" (lines 15-27).
Date: April 20, 1886
Creator: Ramsey, Haley S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for improvements on a churn design, in particular for churns with a vertical dasher that have reciprocating motion.
Date: October 27, 1891
Creator: Henderson, Henry Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant-Trap. (open access)

Ant-Trap.

Patent for a new type of ant trap that captures ants by having them crawl up a wooden central chamber and then fall into a sheer metal pit. Includes illustrations.
Date: December 8, 1891
Creator: Walker, Stephen A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balanced Pump. (open access)

Balanced Pump.

Patent for a new and improved balanced pump. This design "relates to improvements in balanced pumps having a horizontal cylinder provided with a horizontally-reciprocating plunger, and a curved cylinder placed directly under it, provided with a curved plunger, both having suitable valves operating automatically in conjunction therewith" (lines 8-14).
Date: July 1, 1884
Creator: Ramsey, Haley S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coffee Mill Attachment. (open access)

Coffee Mill Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved coffee-mill attachment. This design "is to provide an attachment for coffee-mills whereby a cup or other receptacle can be suspended beneath the discharge-spout of the mill to receive the ground coffee therefrom, and which vessel can also be easily and readily fitted or adjusted beneath or removed from the discharge-spout, and to provide means which can be applied very easily and readily to hand coffee-mills of any class, and which shall be simple in construction and inexpensive" (lines 16-26).
Date: September 14, 1886
Creator: Wiesendanger, Emil Ulrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark-Arrester. (open access)

Spark-Arrester.

Patent for self-driven, rotating, exhaust vent brushes to arrest sparks.
Date: January 18, 1887
Creator: Elkins, William Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for improvements in wire-stretchers by using a combination of two jaws coupled together and carrying pulleys, a cord to draw the jaws together passing around the pulleys, and a gripping device connected with the jaws to secure the wires. (Illustration is included.)
Date: July 7, 1891
Creator: Bigham, James Oliver
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Hub. (open access)

Vehicle-Hub.

Patent for improvements to vehicle wheel hubs, with instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 12, 1892
Creator: Jones, George W. & Green, Furney F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine (open access)

Washing-Machine

Patent for improvements on washing machines in order "to simplify and improve the construction of washing-machines and to provide one which will remove the dirt from fabrics without inj uring the latter and which may be conveniently operated with a minimum amount of exertion on the part of the operator" (lines 10-16).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Elkins, William Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Veterinary Medicine. (open access)

Veterinary Medicine.

Patent for "medical compounds for internal application in diseases of sheep and other animals, and it is especially designed to cure the sheep disease known among sheepmen as ‘lombriz’" (lines 8-12) which lists the ingredients, measurements, and instructions for making and use. According to http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=lombriz “lombriz” can be translated as intestinal worm. According to https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/as/as-573-w.pdf “By far the most deadly internal parasite to small ruminants in the Midwestern United States is the gastrointestinal roundworm Haemonchus contortus, also known as the barber pole worm and a variety of other names.”
Date: November 20, 1883
Creator: Green, Furney Fold
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Motor (open access)

Water-Motor

Patent for water motors that aides in "the transmission of the power generated by the revolution of two or more water-wheels to a single driving-shaft" (lines 8-10).
Date: January 28, 1890
Creator: Vernon, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect-Destroyer. (open access)

Insect-Destroyer.

Patent for an insect destroyer consisting of a steam-generator used with "removable drawers forming the fire-box and ash-pan of the generator, a safety-valve connected with the steam-boiler, and a novel form and construction of flexible discharge-tube, the same being provided with a cut-off device and with a socket-piece adapted to receive a handle by means of which the discharge end of the flexible tube may be elevated and conducted to any desired point" (lines 12-21).
Date: March 24, 1896
Creator: Maddux, Richard Calvin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Lamp-Burners. (open access)

Improvement in Lamp-Burners.

Patent for a new improvement for Lamp-Burners that helps prevent explosions, including illustrations.
Date: April 15, 1879
Creator: Beeman, Geraldo A. & Ramsey, Haley S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wash Boiler (open access)

Wash Boiler

Patent for improvement on boiler washing machines so that steam is produced in conical chambers underneath a false bottom thus producing steam in less time and stirring the clothes as steam is vented upward and out of said chambers.
Date: January 24, 1893
Creator: Medley, John Alfred
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hub. (open access)

Hub.

Patent for a new and improved hub. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a hub having a seat on its periphery, the adjustable sections fitted on the seat of the hub and adapted to receive the spokes, the threaded studs affixed to the hub, and the adjustable nuts fitted on the studs and bearing against the adjustable sections" (lines 57-62).
Date: November 2, 1886
Creator: Jones, George W. & Green, Furney F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lamp Chimney Cap. (open access)

Lamp Chimney Cap.

Patent for a new and improved cap for oil lamps. A lamp "equipped with [this] improvement may therefore be carried outdoors without danger of being put out or exploding on account of rain or wind. The protector, being made of metal, also serves by radiation to equalize the heat of the chimney and prevent it from cracking" (lines 48-54). Further, it is simpler and more durable than previous lamp-chimney caps.
Date: October 16, 1883
Creator: Wiesendanger, Emil Ulrich
System: The Portal to Texas History
Post Hole Auger. (open access)

Post Hole Auger.

Patent for a new and improved post-hole digger. This design is "compris[ed of] an operating handle having a series of radial horizontal wings provided on their lower faces with downwardly-projecting flanges, cutting-blades having horizontal slotted arms at their upper ends adapted to fit between the flanges of the wings, said cutting-blades having their lower ends pointed or bent and curved inwardly and transversely, to bring the cutting edge of one blade out of the plane of rotation of the rear blunt edge of the preceding blade, and adjusting bolts and nuts" (lines 7-18).
Date: November 17, 1885
Creator: Grimm, Frederick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pneumatic Conveyer. (open access)

Pneumatic Conveyer.

Patent for pneumatic conveyer using cars, cylindrically-shaped runners, tracks, and lubrication device, including illustrations.
Date: January 3, 1893
Creator: Vernon, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sand-Band. (open access)

Sand-Band.

Patent for a sand band which will prevent sand and dirt from working in between the axle and hub and into the axle-box of a vehicle.
Date: October 12, 1880
Creator: Lupton, Lewis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stamp Canceler and Register. (open access)

Stamp Canceler and Register.

Patent for a new and improved stamp canceller. This design "consists in the combination, with an ordinary hand canceling device, of an indicator" (lines 22-24). This design utilizes a lever, and "[b]y properly adjusting [it], the device will indicate the cancellation of one-cent or three-cent stamps, and it is obvious that by making similar and proper provision for the adjustment of the throw of [the lever] the cancellation of stamps of any denomination may be indicated" (lines 83-89).
Date: May 3, 1881
Creator: Lupton, Lewis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash Fastener. (open access)

Sash Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved sash-fastener. This design consists in "the rack-bar, the pawl consisting of a metallic strip bent into substantially triangular form, one of the angles engaging the rack-bar, the pivot-screw passed through an eye formed at the upper angle of the pawl, and a handle at the remaining angle of the pawl, a stop-pin inserted through the pawl in rear of the engaging-point, and a spring to hold the pawl normally in engagement with the rack-bar" (lines 11-20).
Date: April 2, 1889
Creator: Elkins, William Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fifth Wheel. (open access)

Fifth Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved wheel. This design consists in "the combination of the lower section carried by the axle, an upper section bearing on the lower section and having the spaced lugs, a bolster fitted between the said lugs, a reach having its front end resting on the upper section, and the plate secured to the front end of the reach and having the loops at its ends, which fit around the upper and lower sections" (lines 39-47).
Date: January 11, 1887
Creator: Switzer, William C.
System: The Portal to Texas History