Resource Type

Automatic Water Trap for Cisterns and Other Receptacles. (open access)

Automatic Water Trap for Cisterns and Other Receptacles.

Patent for a new and improved water-trap. This design consists in "the combination, with a bent main pipe, of a vessel secured on the said main pipe and connected at its top with the interior of the said main pipe, a pin held on the bottom of the said vessel, a fixed sleeve provided with a spiral groove and engaged by said pin, a grooved pin held in the said fixed sleeve and resting at its top end on the bottom of the said pin, a roped connected with the said grooved pin, and a weight held on the said rope to counterbalance the said main pipe and vessel" (lines 103-114).
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Pickering, Charles H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press. (open access)

Baling Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling-press. This design has for its object "to provide a press in which the material to be baled can be compressed into bales of the desired sizes, and then emptied from the baling-box by tilting up the tail-board, which is provided with angle irons to catch under the bale" (lines 15-20).
Date: August 7, 1888
Creator: Hoop, Friedrich W. J. & Isaac, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sample-Taking Device. (open access)

Sample-Taking Device.

Patent for device which takes samples as the drill bit bores through the earth while drilling wells. The samples are used to determine presence or absence of oil and other minerals.
Date: August 7, 1917
Creator: Dodds, Redus D.
System: The Portal to Texas History