Car Replacer (open access)

Car Replacer

Patent for a car replacer. This invention is designed for the replacement of derailed locomotives, cars, and stock pens to the rails. Illustration included.
Date: June 18, 1907
Creator: Bowman, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn Motor. (open access)

Churn Motor.

Patent for a new and improved churn-motor. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the frame, the rock-shaft arranged longitudinally in the top of the same and having the arm and the cross-head, the dasher-rods pivoted to the cross-head, the crank-shaft journaled transversely in the frame below the rock-shaft and having the fly-wheel and the pulley, the pitman connecting the crank-shaft and the arm, the driving-shaft arranged transversely in the frame, the pulley thereon, and the belt connecting the pulleys" (lines 64-74).
Date: June 18, 1889
Creator: Anderson, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Closet-Seat. (open access)

Closet-Seat.

Patent for a toilet seat that helps support users with rectal diseases.
Date: July 18, 1911
Creator: Ellis, Joseph G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Compound Tool (open access)

Compound Tool

Patent for a compound tool which combines the features of the nut-wrench and the pipe-wrench.
Date: March 18, 1913
Creator: Scroggins, James L. & Waldrop, A. S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Rerigerator-Cars. (open access)

Improvement in Rerigerator-Cars.

Patent for "improvements in refrigerator-cars for preserving fresh meats, vegetables, and other perishable articles while transporting them over great distance; and it consists of an ice-receptacle at the top of the car, provided with flat top and carved or inclined bottom." (Lines 13-19) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 18, 1876
Creator: Zimmerman, Arnold W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Latch. (open access)

Latch.

Patent for a latch for swinging doors, which can be operated from either side of the door.
Date: May 18, 1909
Creator: Lewis, Oliver
System: The Portal to Texas History
Reicing Cars. (open access)

Reicing Cars.

Patent for an ice storage receptacle and crushing apparatus which supplies the refrigerator cars on a train with fresh ice.
Date: May 18, 1915
Creator: Tobin, Patrick H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Relay. (open access)

Relay.

Patent for an electric relay "which is normally actuated by weak currents, and adapted when abnormally energized by heavier currents to shift the local current from one connection to another in order to prevent the relay armature from sticking" (lines 10-15).
Date: May 18, 1909
Creator: Rice, Hugh C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Train-Marker and Signal-Lamp. (open access)

Train-Marker and Signal-Lamp.

Patent for a train-marker and engine signal-lamp meant to "provide a lamp in which the light may be differently colored and the change of color may be effected in an expeditious and convenient manner without the necessity of opening the lamp" (lines 10-14). It also provides "a guard or slide, whereby the opening through which the adjusting device passes may be closed, so as to prevent the wind from entering the body of the lamp and interfering with the flame" (lines 15-20). The lamp is meant for railroads and has two or more lenses, and is durably and inexpensively constructed. One color of light can be shown from the front and back and another from the sides.
Date: February 18, 1896
Creator: Cook, Marion P.
System: The Portal to Texas History