Flexible Hoe and Cotton-Chopper (open access)

Flexible Hoe and Cotton-Chopper

Patent for "provide a means by which the swinging blades are made to cut a uniform depth, and do as shallow hoeing as may be required even in rough ground, and also work very close to small plants; second, to provide such gearing and such connection between the driving-wheel and the oscillating blades that the blades maybe readily shifted from right to left to keep them over the row without having to move or change the course of the driving-wheel at the same time" (lines 14-24).
Date: December 31, 1889
Creator: Hurd, Judson B. & McLane, Hiram H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hoeing-Machine (open access)

Hoeing-Machine

Patent for improvements "to afford facilities for the more ready and perfect protection of the plant while the pulverizing-blades are cultivating the soil around it; second, to provide a better and more ready means of guiding the pulverizing-blades along the row I attain these objects by giving my guiding-fender a motion independent of the motion of the pulverizing-blades along the row and around the plants" (lines 13-19).
Date: December 10, 1889
Creator: Hurd, Judson B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Screw and Slide Valve. (open access)

Screw and Slide Valve.

Patent for a combination of a screw and slide valve that can be closed by a lever or screw. It is also designed to stop air and liquid from flowing in either direction.
Date: September 3, 1889
Creator: Davis, De Leon
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tool for Drilling Wells. (open access)

Tool for Drilling Wells.

Patent for improvement in "tools for drilling or boring Artesian, oil, and other deep wells; and it has for its object to prevent the loss of the drill or auger or of any portion of the drill-rods" (lines 9-13) via an "improved means for connecting the tool to the lower end of the drill-rod" (lines 15-16) including illustrations.
Date: July 16, 1889
Creator: McLane, Hiram H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Velocipede (open access)

Velocipede

Patent for new and useful improvements to the class of velocipedes "in which the rotation of the propelling-wheel is produced by the oscillation of a rocking-chair" (lines 24-26).
Date: July 2, 1889
Creator: Rullmann, John D. & Eckenroth, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clinical Thermometer. (open access)

Clinical Thermometer.

Patent for a new and improved thermometer. This design has "[u]pon the body of the instrument a scale, preferably equivalent to the centigrade . . . in which the zero-sign is placed at the normal temperature of the body, each degree being divided into five or ten parts according to the size of the instrument and reading supernormal and subnormal degrees" (lines 20-26).
Date: June 11, 1889
Creator: Hunstock, Robert H. & Chávez, Emigdio
System: The Portal to Texas History
Drilling Tool for Wells. (open access)

Drilling Tool for Wells.

Patent for a new and improved drilling tool for wells. This design "relates to tools for drilling or boring Artesian, oil, and other deep wells; and it has for its object to prevent the loss of drill or auger or any portion of the drill-rods. With this end in view the invention consists in the improved means for connecting the tool to the lower end of the drill-rod" (lines 9-15).
Date: May 28, 1889
Creator: McLane, Hiram H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Engine (open access)

Rotary Engine

Patent for "an engine that is adaptable to all kinds of work, and which is capable of running the heaviest locomotive and the lightest sewing-machine with equal ease and satisfaction" (lines 9-13).
Date: April 23, 1889
Creator: Hines, John Fletcher, Sr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Planing-Machine (open access)

Planing-Machine

Patent for a machine for planing lumber with "a very smooth surface, avoiding the undulating marks upon the lumber and holes caused by the occasional lifting or breaking out of incurved portions of the lumber, as caused on surfaces planed by rotary cutters" (lines 22-27).
Date: March 19, 1889
Creator: Davis, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire-Escape (open access)

Fire-Escape

Patent for "a fire-escape and observation-tower, which may be raised or extended at any point, or be lowered and compactly folded for transportation" (lines 7-10).
Date: January 15, 1889
Creator: Rüllmann, John D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railway Car. (open access)

Railway Car.

Patent for improvements in railway car design to protect passengers against train robberies by a combination of "several walls of the compartment and doors connected therewith bullet-proof lining, and in providing several walls and doors, each with a series of port-holes" (lines 27-31) from which occupants can fire weapons in defense with accompanying illustrations.
Date: January 8, 1889
Creator: Warren, Gerald Patrick
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gas Compressing Pump for Ice Machines. (open access)

Gas Compressing Pump for Ice Machines.

Patent for a new and improved pump for refrigerators. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the cylinder, having inlet at or near its lower end, a downward-closing valve at its upper end, an open-ended piston having internal ribs or projections, annular valve-seat around its upper open end, and a centrally-apertured bottom plate, of the valve having vertical movement within the piston and closing upwardly against the valve-seat, said valve being formed of the two sections . . . having hemispherical recesses and the lower section having an aperture, communicating therewith" (lines 30-42).
Date: December 25, 1888
Creator: Farnsworth, Thomas
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
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
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
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for "a car-coupler which will be automatic in its operation in coupling the cars as they come together on the track, and at the same time to provide a positive uncoupling device which may be operated on any part of any of the cars, as well as by an engineer, when it is desired to uncouple the cars or a car from the engine" (lines 14-21).
Date: October 30, 1888
Creator: Carolan, Eugene P. & Lee, Patrick H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Spring Connection for Pump Rods. (open access)

Spring Connection for Pump Rods.

Patent for a new and improved spring-connection for pump-rods. This design "is designed more particularly for pumps or windmills, and has for its object to provide for the working of the pump with less power and to utilize the downstroke for the purpose of storing power to aid the piston-rod in its upstroke" (lines 15-20).
Date: October 9, 1888
Creator: Klaus, Wenzel F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot (open access)

Boot

Patent for a boot design that contains a counter-support of coil springs while also being inexpensive, durable, and efficient.
Date: October 2, 1888
Creator: Benson, Henry L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lawn Mower. (open access)

Lawn Mower.

Patent for a new and improved lawn-mower. This design consists in "[t]he combination of a bifurcated frame, a driving-wheel supported therein, gears secured to opposite sides of said wheel, inclined pitmen-driving shafts carrying at their inner ends pinions to engage said gears, guide-plates supported by the lower and forward end of the frame, cutters provided with slots and supported between said guide-plates, pitmen connecting the cutters and shafts, and adjusting-screws applied to said plates and cutters" (lines 23-33).
Date: September 18, 1888
Creator: Grothaus, Frederick E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Receptacle For Use In Outhouses And Like Places (open access)

Receptacle For Use In Outhouses And Like Places

Patent for Receptacle For Use In Outhouses And Like Places. "This invention relates to an improvement in receptacles for use in outhouses and other like places, the object being to construct a simple and inexpensive receptacle which will not give out any offensive or unhealthy odors while being removed from the outhouse for the purpose of cleaning or for any other purpose." (lines 13-19)
Date: August 14, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Barrel for Outhouses. (open access)

Barrel for Outhouses.

Patent for a new and improved barrel. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the barrel-head having the opening, of the cover adapted to close said opening, the bolt extending through said cover and into the barrel, the clamping bar longer than the width of said opening in the barrel-head, said bar being centrally pivoted by a rivet to the lower end of said bolt, and a nut screwed upon the upper end of said bolt for clamping said cover in position" (lines 16-25).
Date: May 8, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Wardrobe, Bureau, and Wash Stand. (open access)

Combined Wardrobe, Bureau, and Wash Stand.

Patent for a new and improved combination chiffarobe and wash stand. This design is "constructed with a main wardrobe section provided with hinged upper doors having lower ledges or shelves, respectively, and bureau and wash-stand structures hinged at opposite sides of the wardrobe below its doors and adapted when closed to close the lower front part of the wardrobe, and said door-ledges forming top covers to the wash-stand and bureau" (lines 31-40).
Date: May 8, 1888
Creator: Wulff, Henry F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fire Escape (open access)

Fire Escape

Patent for Fire Escape. "may be folded up out of the way when not in use, and which can be lowered to the ground and secured in position for use in an emergency in the shortest possible space of time and with the least expense of physical force." (lines 15-20) With illustrations.
Date: March 27, 1888
Creator: Hornby, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Box for Washing Gravel, &c. (open access)

Box for Washing Gravel, &c.

Patent for washing gravel and other material for making concrete.
Date: February 28, 1888
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History