Resource Type

Automatic Cork Extractor. (open access)

Automatic Cork Extractor.

Patent for a new and improved automatic cork extractor. This design "consists, principally, of a vertically-moving and partially-rotating blade having a harpoon-shaped or shouldered head for piercing and drawing the corks; in laterally opening and closing jaws for holding the necks of the bottles; in pivoted and laterally-moving pointed levers for throwing the parts of the corks away from the blade when withdrawn, and in the construction and combination of the parts of the device" (lines 14-23).
Date: May 24, 1881
Creator: Clark, Chester Cady
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for a new and improved windmill. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the horizontal wind-wheel, the semi-cylindrical case partly inclosing the same and independently revoluble, the case having the notches in its upper side, the vane having the shaft or port whose lower end forms the upper pivot for the said case, and the lever having its inner end fast to the vane shaft or port, and adapted to engage the said notches, and thereby cause the case to expose any desired area of the wheel to the wind" (lines 89-99).
Date: July 24, 1888
Creator: Hamm, Jordan
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stump Puller. (open access)

Stump Puller.

Patent for a new and improved stump puller. This design's object "is to provide a simple, cheap, and effective stump-puller, readily portable and easily operated by one man and a horse; and to that end the novelty consists in the construction of the same" (lines 10-15).
Date: April 24, 1883
Creator: Tucker, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History