Resource Type

Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to car-couplings, and it has for its object to provide a device of this character which shall be automatic in its action, simple in its construction, positive and effective in operation, and one that will be strong and durable. A further object of the invention is to provide improved means for supporting the link in a horizontal position, so that it will engage the draw-head of the adjacent car. The invention consists in the improved construction and combination of parts" (lines 10-21).
Date: June 16, 1885
Creator: Hogan, John James & Miller, Rudolph Albert
System: The Portal to Texas History
Adjusting Device for Compressing-Rolls. (open access)

Adjusting Device for Compressing-Rolls.

Patent for adjusting devices for compressing rolls which “employed for compressing into a continuous thin sheet cotton fiber; and the objects in view are to provide a simple and convenient means for binding the rolls in contact, and when so bound to prevent any undesired yielding.” (Lines 10-15) Illustration is included.
Date: June 16, 1891
Creator: Goldthwaite, Joseph G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bootjack. (open access)

Bootjack.

Patent for a new and improved boot-jack. This design is for an addition to existing boot-jacks that allows for wet or tight boots to be removed completely after the heel of the foot is loosened, all without the use of hands. This additional apparatus can be adjusted to different angles by way of eye-holes and screws.
Date: June 16, 1896
Creator: Ulferts, Ulfert Harms
System: The Portal to Texas History
Swing. (open access)

Swing.

Patent for a new and improved swing. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a suitable support, a single hanger having its width increased at that point where the friction-roller of the operating-lever bears against it, with the operating-lever provided with a friction-roller to bear against the front edge of the hanger, a second roller, over which the cord passes, a friction-roller attached to the hanger, and an operating cord" (lines 18-26).
Date: June 16, 1885
Creator: Elliott, William W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Press. (open access)

Cotton-Press.

Patent for a cotton-press with "new and useful roller-compresses for making bales of cotton into a cylindrical or roll-form, and also having simple and efficient mechanism for continuously forming a bale all the time the compress is in operation, which result has heretofore been impossible in presses of that character employing only one pair of compressing-rolls" (lines 9-17).
Date: June 16, 1896
Creator: Griffin, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History