Cattle Guard. (open access)

Cattle Guard.

Patent for improvements and new features to cattle guards on railways, including illustrations.
Date: September 16, 1902
Creator: Miller, Martin L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bat-Forming Apparatus. (open access)

Bat-Forming Apparatus.

Patent for an apparatus to form bats, made of fibrous material, to be placed in the coverings or tickings to make mattresses. The apparatus works so that "the bat-forming fibrous material may be evenly distributed, and by which the mattress-forming operation may be expeditiously carried on" (lines 16-19). The patent includes illustrations.
Date: September 23, 1913
Creator: Haynes, Daniel & Haynes, Richard H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Insect-Destroying Compounds. (open access)

Improvement in Insect-Destroying Compounds.

Patent for an insecticide that kills ants via fumigation. Ingredients include sulfur, charcoal, potassium cyanide, arsenic, and coal tar.
Date: September 22, 1874
Creator: Tottenham, John William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sunken-Ship Indicator. (open access)

Sunken-Ship Indicator.

Patent for an object that can show the location a sunken boat from the surface of the water and can be carried in or by a boat and becomes operable once the boat sinks.
Date: September 7, 1920
Creator: Hlavaty, Joe, Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gunpowder Canister. (open access)

Gunpowder Canister.

Patent for a new and improved canister. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable supporting cone-shaped frame provided with a supporting flange at its top and an opening through one side, with the can or case for holding the powder, and which is also provided with a supporting-flange near its lower end, a suitable cover, and a spring-actuated perforated slide . . . to provide a case for holding gunpowder, and from which the powder can be drawn into a suitable measuring-receptacle without the trouble of having to weigh it or having to expose it . . . where it is liable to catch fire" (lines 14-28).
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Stopple, John J. & Harigel, Emil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Shot-Canister (open access)

Shot-Canister

Patent for "to provide a revolving case having a series of annularly or otherwise located compartments formed of transparent material and adapted for the reception of shot of dierent grades; to provide means for delivering the shot from the compartments and also for gaging the same before and after delivery" (lines 13-20).
Date: September 17, 1889
Creator: Harigel, Amil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Press. (open access)

Cotton Press.

Patent for a new and improved cotton press. This design "consists in the combination of a shaft which is journaled upon the top of the press-frame, and provided with a driving-pulley, a clutch which is feathered upon the shaft, and which is operated by a lever which projects in the line of travel of the beater, a drum provided with a ratchet, a spring-pawl, and the brake by which the descent of the beater is controlled" (lines 13-21).
Date: September 9, 1884
Creator: Voigt, Robert
System: The Portal to Texas History