Combined Torch and Gas Burner Key. (open access)

Combined Torch and Gas Burner Key.

Patent for a new and improved combined torch and gas-burner key. This design "relates to a device for lighting gas-burners and operating the cock of the gas-burner, and has for its object to provide a combined torch and key by means of which the gas may be lighted without the flame of the torch coming in contact with the globe surrounding the burner and the cock of the gas-burner readily taken hold of and operated" (lines 8-15).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: Lindsay, George Washington
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Cultivating Machine (open access)

Cotton-Cultivating Machine

Patent to "provide an implement which, in passing once over the row of cotton, will chop, scrape, and cultivate said row" (lines 10-13).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: Runyon, Edwin Elijah
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheel. (open access)

Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved wheel. This design "is to obviate the . . . great difficulty . . . experienced in the construction of wheels in putting the axle-box in the hub and getting it true. . . . and [to] improve and strengthen the construction of wheels, and especially the manner of securing the spokes in the hubs" (lines 9-17).
Date: October 15, 1889
Creator: Holland, William Johnson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boot Scraper. (open access)

Boot Scraper.

Patent for a new and improved boot scraper. This design "consists in the construction and novel arrangement of the inclined bow-shaped upper plate, having a transverse bar connecting the branches of the plate, the inner edges of which are inclined outward and upward from the upper edge of the transverse bar, and in providing, in connection with the bow-shaped plate, an under or subsidiary plate of forked form, having a rounded recess between the forks adapted to conform to the shape of the heel" (lines 18-30).
Date: October 23, 1883
Creator: Collins, Morris A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence Post. (open access)

Fence Post.

Patent for a new and improved fence post. This design is for a "fence-post molded of a cement and sand or gravel, with a transverse vertical slot . . . a vertical opening in its top communicating with the vertical slot [designed] for the wire fastening . . . openings [found] in its sides or edges for the wires [as well as] a flange" (lines 51-56).
Date: October 10, 1882
Creator: McGee, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate. (open access)

Gate.

Patent for a new and improved gate. This design "consists in the novel construction and arrangement of the posts, the latch-bar pivoted to the main rail by inclined braces and operated by a rock-shaft and push-arms inclined in a direction opposite to that of the inclined braces, weight-box, and cranks for operating the rock-shaft to open and close the gate" (lines 19-25).
Date: October 25, 1881
Creator: Smith, Robert B. & Curry, William
System: The Portal to Texas History