Resource Type

Steam, Air, or Water Engine. (open access)

Steam, Air, or Water Engine.

Patent for simplifying the construction of steam-engines allowing them efficiently use the power of steam" gas, vapor or air in varying positions, vertical, horizontal, or inclined.
Date: May 9, 1882
Creator: Adams, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Life Raft. (open access)

Life Raft.

Patent for boat state rooms that convert into life rafts.
Date: September 9, 1884
Creator: Adams, John R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Scraper. (open access)

Corn and Cotton Scraper.

Patent for a new and improved corn and cotton scraper. This design "is to provide an improved corn and cotton scraper for turning or shovel plows for the cultivation of cotton, corn, and other plants, which is adapted to be attached to the beam of the plow without weakening the same by cutting or boring. The scraper is so arranged as to be adjusted either to the right or left, as desired, and up and down, on a central slotted foot-piece, by means of which the line of draft on the blade of the scraper is at all times the same as that on the beam of the plow" (lines 14-25).
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Adams, William Hinyard
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame Fastener. (open access)

Hame Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved hame-fastener. This design "is to provide a fastener . . . which is of simple construction, which can be readily adjusted, and in which all strain is removed from the pivot of the locking-dog, thus obviating any breakage of the pivot, whatever may be the strain" (lines 17-23).
Date: July 9, 1889
Creator: Anderson, Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hame Lock. (open access)

Hame Lock.

Patent for a new and improved lock for hames. This design "consist[s] of the coupling branches . . . [one] being composed of the two pivoted sections forming the bell-mouth, the section having the slot and spring secured to its opposite end and pressing against the underside of the section, and the branch having the catch-tooth adapted to enter the bell-mouth and engage the slot" (lines 67-75).
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Anderson, Lee
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design consists in "the combination of two sliding draw-heads, each provided with a shank having coiled around it a spring and a nut secured thereto, an upper sliding supporting-plate for the pin, having a tripping device, a lower sliding supporting-plate for the link, having a catch, a latch with a trip-arm for holding and releasing said plate, and a spring for drawing it back to its normal position" (lines 11-20).
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Ballentine, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Commode. (open access)

Commode.

Patent for an integrated air-venting commode.
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Bardon, Prosper
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ant Trap. (open access)

Ant Trap.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design "has for its object the production of a simple, cheap, and effective device whereby the ants are confined to a space within the circle of the trap, speedily captured, and exterminated. It consists in a trap constructed with a circular flanged pit provided with tubes leading therefrom to a central ant-receptacle; also, in the details of construction of the trap" (lines 8-16).
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Barnes, Robert Hanson & Salles, George Camiel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Splicing Device. (open access)

Splicing Device.

Patent for a new and improved wire splicer. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the casing, of the wires entering the casing at the opposite sides of the respective ends and bent in opposite directions, so as to interlock within the casing, said casing being bent down . . . at each end" (lines 62-67).
Date: April 9, 1889
Creator: Basel, John Conrad
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator (open access)

Cultivator

Patent for "a cultivator of simple and durable construction, capable of being adjusted laterally to any width and vertically to any desired height" (lines 9-12).
Date: July 9, 1889
Creator: Benthall, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Tongs. (open access)

Fire Tongs.

Patent for new and improved fire tongs. This design "is designed to produce an article . . . which will be practical in every respect, and which will prevent the slipping or sliding of the legs or arms thereof while handling the logs, enabling the latter to be grasped with a firm hold, thereby avoiding the numerous accidents that often occur from the use of the present form of tongs" (lines 9-17).
Date: March 9, 1886
Creator: Bishop, John Andrews
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spark-Extinguisher. (open access)

Spark-Extinguisher.

Patent for a spark extinguisher "to prevent the burning of buildings and other combustible matter by steam engines" (lines 15-17).
Date: March 9, 1880
Creator: Blewett, George L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Whitewash (open access)

Whitewash

Patent for "improvement in whitewash-paint consists in the use of certain ingredients whereby the same is rendered more permanent or durable and beautiful in color than any other article of the kind hitherto produced" (lines 10-14).
Date: April 9, 1889
Creator: Brizzolari, Davis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Running Gear. (open access)

Running Gear.

Patent for a new and improved running gear. This design consists "[i]n an adjustable axle, the combination of the squarely grooved or axle-tree, having [a] central square block, the spindles having inner square portions, having horizontal slots and vertical slots, vertical nutted bolts and horizontal nutted bolts, [and] having hooks adapted to have the draft-chains attached to them" (lines 74-81).
Date: January 9, 1883
Creator: Brosius, John M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for "improved and simple means for automatically and positively coupling the adjacent ends of railway-cars together" (lines 25-27).
Date: April 9, 1889
Creator: Campbell, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water Elevator. (open access)

Water Elevator.

Patent for a new and improved water-elevator. This design "has for its object to provide for the escape of the air initially held in the upper bends of the screw, so as to relieve the same of the pneumatic pressure caused thereby in connection with the ascending water, thus causing less resistance to the rotation of the screw, enabling it to be operated by decreased motive power" (lines 11-18).
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Campbell, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal Shears. (open access)

Animal Shears.

Patent for new and improved animal shears. This design is "to secure an equal wear of the teeth of the stationary and the revolving cutter-plates . . . whereby the instrument may be run double the usual time before it is necessary to grind the plates, and enabling the tool to be used as a right or a left hand cutter; also, to render the cutters separable without arresting the motion of the rotary blade . . . also, to provide means whereby the rotation of the cutter may be reversed . . . finally, to provide a simple device for throwing the miter-gears into and out of mesh" (lines 15-29).
Date: December 9, 1884
Creator: Carter, Francis W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Planter (open access)

Corn and Cotton Planter

Patent for "a novel planting mechanism for planting either corn or cotton-seed, at the pleasure of the operator, by a simple adjustment of parts, and thereby adapt the machine for sowing different kinds of seeds and save the farmer the expense of two different machines" (lines 19-25).
Date: April 9, 1889
Creator: Cathey, Thomas Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Warning Strip for Wire Fences. (open access)

Warning Strip for Wire Fences.

Patent for a new and improved warning strip for wire fences. This design "relates to warning-strips for wire fences designed as a visible signal to indicate the presence of the fence, and thus prevent cattle from running against the same and tearing themselves on the barbs" (lines 9-13).
Date: August 9, 1887
Creator: Cloud, William Johnston
System: The Portal to Texas History
Shutter Fastener. (open access)

Shutter Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved shutter fastener. This design consists "[i]n a blind-fastening, the case, constructed . . . and provided with [a] projection in combination with the bolt having recess, the spring, the swinging catch, and the keeper secured in the window sill" (lines 45-49).
Date: March 9, 1886
Creator: Cutter, Martin A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn and Cotton Planter Combined. (open access)

Corn and Cotton Planter Combined.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design "is to provide a planter which may be used as a cotton-planter or other small-seed planter, the various parts being so arranged that the number of grains planted in a hill may be regulated as desired, while the depth of the furrow may also be regulated in accordance with the requirements of the case" (lines 8-15).
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Davis, Joseph Green
System: The Portal to Texas History
Awning (open access)

Awning

Patent for an improvement in Awnings, that include interchangeable parts that can be permanent or easily detached pending on the situation. Included are detailed illustrations.
Date: November 9, 1886
Creator: Ferrel, Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Breakwater. (open access)

Breakwater.

Patent for a new and improved breakwater. This design "furnish[es] breakwaters for protecting harbors and roadsteads, and keeping open channels through bars at the entrances of harbors, the mouths of rivers, and in other places, and which shall not be liable to be destroyed by the marine worm" (lines 13-19).
Date: August 9, 1881
Creator: Follett, Alexander Glass
System: The Portal to Texas History
Quilting Frame. (open access)

Quilting Frame.

Patent for a new and improved quilting frame for sewing machines. This design consists "[i]n a quilting frame, the combination, with suitable supporting standards having an inclined V-shaped track secured thereto, of a rail having rollers mounted upon the side thereof and traveling upon said track, depending brackets secured to the ends of said rail, transverse secured to the ends of said depending rods, and rollers having bearing in said transverse strips" (lines 3-11).
Date: December 9, 1884
Creator: German, Francis M.
System: The Portal to Texas History