Apparatus for Loading Wagons. (open access)

Apparatus for Loading Wagons.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for loading wagons. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the platform having the opening and the trap-doors, the fastening devices to secure the trap-doors when closed and to permit the same to open, and the counter-weights connected to the trap-doors" (lines 24-28).
Date: November 27, 1888
Creator: Bernard, Alfred Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Banana-Case (open access)

Banana-Case

Patent for a banana case to "provide a case or crate in which bananas may be readily packed and transported without injury to the fruit."
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Aiken, Robert H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brace for Bedsteads. (open access)

Brace for Bedsteads.

Patent for a new and improved brace for bedsteads. This design has for its object "to provide an attachment for bedsteads whereby the side rails are prevented from springing outward or expanding from any cause, and thus allowing the slats to fall through" (lines 14-18).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Holmes, James C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coin Controlled Electrical Weighing Scale. (open access)

Coin Controlled Electrical Weighing Scale.

Patent for a new and improved coin-operated electrical scale. This design "relates to improvements in electrical weighing-scales that may be tripped by electricity; and the main object of [the] invention is to so arrange the electric circuit that it may be closed for tripping the indicator by inserting within the machine a coin or like-shaped metallic piece" (lines 16-22).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Smith, William R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined or Covertible Tool. (open access)

Combined or Covertible Tool.

Patent for a new and improved multi-tool. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a screw-driver, its blade having a hole and a lug, and its handle having in its end a socket with a slotted reversible tool, pointed at one end and formed for a screw-driver at the other end adjustably held against one side of the screw-driver by means of a screw and nut and the lug, and adapted to fit in the socket when out of use" (lines 63-71).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Barber, Edwin L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Sand and Gravel Washer (open access)

Combined Sand and Gravel Washer

Patent for "a combined gravel and sand washing box which shall effectually serve as a means for practically removing all sand and dirt from gravel and stones and all mud and fine dirt from sand" (lines 30-34).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn Planter Attachment. (open access)

Corn Planter Attachment.

Patent for a new and improved planter attachment. This design consists "of a suitable hopper which is to be attached to the side of the beam, a spring-actuated seed-slide, an extension or support which projects from one end of the hopper, a pivoted lever placed upon the extension and connected to the seed-slide at one end, a strap connected to the outer end of the lever, and the singletree to which the draft animal is secured . . . to convert any ordinary plow or cultivator into a corn-planter . . . which is operated by the pivoted motion of the singletree as the draft animal moves forward" (lines 14-29).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Dean, Robert A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Gin (open access)

Cotton-Gin

Patent for an improvements in the combination of devices and overall construction of cotton gins.
Date: November 27, 1888
Creator: Brady, Peter Lewis & Brady, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Double Point for Plows. (open access)

Double Point for Plows.

Patent for a new and improved double point for plows. This design consists in "[t]he plow-point having the central rectangular bend at the back, the wings shelving outward, downward, and forward, the long parallel-sided end, the lateral angles, and the marginal edges inclined upward and toward each other, the said portion being substantially as long as the share-edge" (lines 71-77).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Schuster, Rudolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Envelope-Machine (open access)

Envelope-Machine

Patent for "a machine for making envelopes, paper bags, and similar receptacles from paper and other like materials" (lines 7-9).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Clarke, George R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fruit Coring and Halving Machine. (open access)

Fruit Coring and Halving Machine.

Patent for a new and improved fruit corer and halver. This design consists "[i]n a fruit cutter, the combination of the pivoted knives having laterally-concaved facing sides and curved inward to the edges at the upper ends, the arms extending from one side of said knives near their lower end, and the vertically-moving guide-plate provided with the longitudinal guide-grooves parallel at their upper and lower portions and curving inward to meet at their centers, into which grooves the ends of said arms enter for the purpose of opening and closing said knives" (lines 22-32).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Harpst, Edgar S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame. (open access)

Hame.

Patent for a new and improved hame. This design "has relation to hames, and more particularly to the means of securing the hames adjustable to each other, and for connecting the usual parts of the harness thereto; and among the objects in view are to provide an easily-manipulated serviceable hame connection that may be adjusted to fit any sized collars, and which may be constructed at a minimum cost" (lines 11-19).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Anderson, Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine for Washing Dishes, Fruits, &c. (open access)

Machine for Washing Dishes, Fruits, &c.

Patent for a new and improved washing machine. This design "is supported horizontally over a proper fireplace or stove and . . . water introduced to fill it to a point just below the perforated detachable bottom, and the pump mechanism then set in motion. When the plunger ascends, it draws water from the water-space and extension through the valve up into the pump-chamber. When the plunger descends, it forces said water upward past the valve into the water-spaces . . . through the perforations . . . and into the washing-chamber, the water . . . washing quickly and thoroughly the articles" (lines 78-91).
Date: November 6, 1888
Creator: King, Charles Rufus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Odorless Dry Outhouse and Apparatus for Use Therewith (open access)

Odorless Dry Outhouse and Apparatus for Use Therewith

Patent for "an outhouse which will be adapted for use in localties where water is scarce, or where it is either or both impracticable or undesirable to use water for flushing or draining" (lines 32-36).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Paper Holder and Cutter. (open access)

Paper Holder and Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved paper cutter. This design "relates to that class of paper holders and cutters in which the paper is drawn through a holder and severed at any desired point. Its objects are to secure a cheap, simple, durable, efficient, and easily-manipulated apparatus capable, if required, of holding several sheets of the same or different widths, which can be fed side by side and cut to the requisite length, leaving a projecting edge behind the cutter to afford ready means of drawing out the succeeding sheet" (lines 9-19).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Eberhardt, Theophilus Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Power Attachment for Treadle Machines. (open access)

Power Attachment for Treadle Machines.

Patent for a new and improved attachment for treadle machines. This design "consist[s] of the frame provided with the bearings and adapted to support the machine to be driven, the shaft journaled in the said bearings and provided with the arms, the roller journaled between the outer ends of the said arms, and the pulley secured on the said shaft" (lines 85-92).
Date: November 20, 1888
Creator: Von Boeckmann, Eugene
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railway Rail Fastening. (open access)

Railway Rail Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved rail fastening. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the tie having upwardly-inclined ends, the chairs having the recesses on their under sides to receive the ends of the tie, said recesses having their outer ends inclined to correspond with the inclination of the ends of the tie, and the clamping devices connecting the chairs together, and thereby securing them firmly on the ends of the tie" (lines 90-97).
Date: November 27, 1888
Creator: McRae, Daniel M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sweep for Corn and Cotton Cultivators. (open access)

Sweep for Corn and Cotton Cultivators.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator sweep. This design "compris[es] a long thin blade, having its front end bent downward and rearward, forming a lip adapted to take into the earth . . . [and] the combination of the beam, the standards secured thereto, and the blade having the projections secured to the standards and having the downward and rearward turned lip at its front end" (lines 59-68).
Date: November 13, 1888
Creator: Cowan, Elias
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for a new and improved windmill. This design "relates to that class of windmills in which semicircular wings are employed upon a vertical shaft; and it has for its object to provide simple and efficient means to govern the speed of the same, and also to throw the windmill into or out of operation when desired . . . A further object of the invention is to provide a windmill of the above-mentioned class which will possess merit in point of durability, inexpensiveness, and general efficiency" (lines 11-21).
Date: November 6, 1888
Creator: Moore, Charles M.
System: The Portal to Texas History