Boiler Washing-Machine (open access)

Boiler Washing-Machine

Patent for a washing machine for clothes that can also be adapted to stoves or gas jets as a boiler. Illustrations included.
Date: August 22, 1911
Creator: Morton, Milo A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bedstead Fastener. (open access)

Bedstead Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved bedstead-fastener. This design "relates to the construction of a fastener for bedsteads, the object of the invention being to provide a fastener by which the parts are firmly held together and prevented from springing; and to these ends the invention consists of certain details of construction and combination of parts" (lines 8-14).
Date: August 3, 1886
Creator: Dickey, John S. & McKinney, William P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Burglar Alarm. (open access)

Burglar Alarm.

Patent for a new and improved burglar alarm. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the casing, the shaft having the winding-drum, the rope connected to the latter passing over a pulley and having a weight attached thereto, a ratchet-wheel at one end of the shaft, a pitman connecting said ratchet-wheel with the alarm-sounding mechanism, a spring-latch engaging the ratchet-wheel and having a cam-lever pivoted in a notch at its front end, the lamp having a scratch-plate attached to its burner, and the lamp-chimney having a vertical slot in its lower end" (lines 39-50).
Date: August 27, 1889
Creator: Carter, Elmira
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay Press (open access)

Hay Press

Patent for an improvement to hay press designs resulting in a "simple, durable, and effective press" (line 13). Instructions and illustrations are included.
Date: August 10, 1897
Creator: Couch, John Calvin
System: The Portal to Texas History