Resource Type

Improvement in Pitmen. (open access)

Improvement in Pitmen.

Patent for "a new and and useful Improvment in Crank and Pitman;" (lines 3-5) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 17, 1870
Creator: Kealy, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Combined Sower, Planter, Cultivator, Scraper, and Gang-Plow. (open access)

Improvement in Combined Sower, Planter, Cultivator, Scraper, and Gang-Plow.

Patent for "a strong, simple, durable, and effective machine, which shall be so constructed and arranged that it may be readily adjusted for use as a gang plow, seed-sower, seed-planter, cultivator, and cotton-scrape, and which will do its work thoroughly and well in either capacity." Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 7, 1870
Creator: Eddleman, James P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Water-Elevators. (open access)

Improvement in Water-Elevators.

Patent for "an endless chain of buckets on a reel for working them, so contrived that it tilts the buckets so that they empty and pass the spout without revolving, whereby the contrivance is simpler and better than when they are made to revolve, and the buckets are linked together by a novel contrivance for carrying them, to enter the water bottom downward, and to allow the air to escape when filling." (Lines 5-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 6, 1876
Creator: Smith, Edgar J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvements in Wheel-Plows. (open access)

Improvements in Wheel-Plows.

Patent for an improvement in riding attachment for plows.
Date: September 21, 1875
Creator: Flow, James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Picket-Fences. (open access)

Improvement in Picket-Fences.

Patent for a new design for a picket fence which is simple in construction and inexpensive in manufacture.
Date: December 24, 1872
Creator: Willhite, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Apparatus for Preserving Meat, &c. (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for Preserving Meat, &c.

Patent for "an improved apparatus for use in fumigating substances used as food; and also for impregnating water with sulphurous-acid gas, for the purpose of preserving such substances by the antiseptic quality of sulphur" (lines 9-14). Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: January 15, 1878
Creator: Ames, Theodore George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Adding-Machines. (open access)

Improvement in Adding-Machines.

Patent for an improved adding-machine design.
Date: December 7, 1875
Creator: Butt, Dennis, L. R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press. (open access)

Baling Press.

Patent for a bailing press used in the milling and processing of cotton.
Date: January 10, 1882
Creator: Ensinger, Louis
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for "baling-presses of that class wherein motion is communicated to the plunger from a sweep operated by horse or similar power, and the object in view is to improve the construction of the baling-chamber and attachments, and, furthermore, to provide a simple and efficient construction of plunger-operating mechanism" (lines 8-15)
Date: January 5, 1897
Creator: Pearce, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "consist[s] of a draw-head having a spring-actuated sliding piece projecting into the draw-head, with a shouldered end therein, and a hole adapted to register with the coupling-holes in the draw-head, a coupling-link having yielding slotted pieces pivoted at its ends above slots in the ends of the link, and a coupling-pin with reacting spring mounted in a frame having a winding-drum, and a rope connected with the coupling-pin, the latter projecting through and engaging the sliding piece and link" (lines 76-87).
Date: July 24, 1888
Creator: Griffith, William H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cleaner for Cotton-Gin Saws (open access)

Cleaner for Cotton-Gin Saws

Patent for "a new and improved cleaner for removing gummy and other matter from the saws of cotton-gins while the latter are running, thus permitting the saws to work very effectively in removing the lint from the seed" (lines 8-13).
Date: June 4, 1889
Creator: Godwin, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bill File. (open access)

Bill File.

Patent for a new and improved bill file. This design "is to provide a cheap and simple file, upon which the papers may be strung and from which they may be removed with the least amount of trouble, and which is adapted to be locked to securely retain the papers thereon in such manner that they are readily accessible for inspection. To this end [the design] provide[s] . . . a wire loop having ends adapted to lap, fit snugly, and lock the one upon the other, and which may be opened for the ready reception and removal of papers, said loop being fitted to turn or swivel about an axis" (lines 11-23).
Date: February 4, 1890
Creator: Seaman, Milton L. B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Disk Harrows. (open access)

Attachment for Disk Harrows.

Patent for improvements in disk harrows, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 10, 1889
Creator: Moffitt, William E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Book-Rest for Writing Desks and Tables. (open access)

Book-Rest for Writing Desks and Tables.

Patent for an improved book-rest for writing desks and tables used to support record-books upon desks or tables in such positions that they can be conveniently used.
Date: October 3, 1882
Creator: Terrill, Reuben W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bolting Reel. (open access)

Bolting Reel.

Patent for a new and improved bolting-reel. This design "relate[s] to bolting-reels for flour-mills; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction, having for their object to obtain lightness, strength, compactness, and cheapness of manufacture, as more particularly set forth hereinafter" (lines 8-13).
Date: March 27, 1883
Creator: Phillips, Edwin Samuel & Kealy, Stephen Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire Tightener. (open access)

Wire Tightener.

Patent for a new and improved wire-tightener. This design consists, "with a curved metallic bar having a central groove in its convex side, and aligned openings of different diameters in the sides of the groove, of the looping-pin having two tapering arms at an angle to each other and of different sizes" (lines 78-83).
Date: December 9, 1890
Creator: Austin, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher. (open access)

Wire-Stretcher.

Patent for a wire-stretcher meant for making barbed wire fences that is more efficient than other wire-stretchers. It has a bent plate, a split hook swiveled to the plate, a rotatable rod that goes through the plate, stretching wire that is secured to the rod, and the split hook is attached to the wire.
Date: October 9, 1894
Creator: Austin, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Walking Seed-Planter (open access)

Walking Seed-Planter

Patent for an improved walking seed-planter.
Date: April 19, 1881
Creator: Thomas, Joseph H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mail Bag Fastening. (open access)

Mail Bag Fastening.

Patent for a new and improved fastening for mail bags. This design "consists of a chain fixed to one side of the bag so as to swing on the lower edge, and having hooks, or, it may be, curved or straight studs, which are made to pass through eyes of the two sides of the bag and around or through another chain on the other side of the bag, making a very simple fastening that is equally secure as the staple fastening now in use and much more readily manufactured" (lines 7-16).
Date: March 18, 1884
Creator: Scott, Roy B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Bucket. (open access)

Well Bucket.

Patent for a new and improved well-bucket. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the upper bucket and the lower external bucket, the former having a central vertical tube adapted to receive the rod for operating the valve of the lower bucket, and the spring arranged around the said rod" (lines 5-10).
Date: June 23, 1885
Creator: Arnold, James S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Metal-Cutting Shears. (open access)

Metal-Cutting Shears.

Patent for simple and effective metal-cutting shears that cuts hot or cold metals. The shears are mounted on a frame, and a hand-operated lever forces the upper shear down.
Date: November 20, 1894
Creator: Autrey, Benjamin P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mud Shoe. (open access)

Mud Shoe.

Patent for a new and improved mud shoe. This design has for its object "to provide a device adapted to be worn over the ordinary boot or shoe and afford a convenient means for keeping the same out of the mud, dirt, or water; and the novelty consists in the detail of the construction and combination of the several parts" (lines 18-24).
Date: November 13, 1883
Creator: Carroll, Samuel T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Padded Underwaist. (open access)

Padded Underwaist.

Patent for a new and improved padded underwaist. This design "has for its object to provide a waist to be worn by persons who are thin or emaciated, to beautify the appearance, to increase the breadth from shoulder to shoulder, and to make the form look plump and round" (lines 14-18). To this end it is "provided upon its inner surface with pockets extending down the middle of the back, on the breasts, around the lower edge, down the sleeves, and down the sides beneath the arms, the pockets down the sleeves and beneath the arms being united together" (lines 90-95).
Date: June 18, 1889
Creator: McDowell, Mary D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Muzzle. (open access)

Muzzle.

Patent for a muzzle for horses that can be easily applied. It prevents the animal from eating while its head is upright, and opens while the horse lowers its head to graze. This prevents the horse from damaging orchards.
Date: February 5, 1895
Creator: Lipscomb, Cicero D.
System: The Portal to Texas History