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
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
Cotton Picker. (open access)

Cotton Picker.

Patent for a new and improved cotton picker. This design has a spring-actuating "mechanism located upon the casing, and a hood for inclosing said mechanism hinged to one of the side walls of the casing and held closed by a fastening device . . . [and] the casing thereof, the endless picker-belt, flanged drums, and the toothed disks contained within said casing . . . and a pulley and belt for winding the spring" (lines 1-12).
Date: August 4, 1885
Creator: Martin, John Tillman
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Press (open access)

Cotton-Press

Patent for improvements to parts arrangement in construction of a cotton press.
Date: May 27, 1884
Creator: Heflin, Cyrus David
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
Cotton Planter. (open access)

Cotton Planter.

Patent for an improvement in cotton-planters.
Date: April 5, 1881
Creator: McFall, Mark M.
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
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
Stock Car. (open access)

Stock Car.

Patent for an improved stock-car for transporting cattle and horses on railways.
Date: June 28, 1881
Creator: Jones, Jeremiah C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hay Press. (open access)

Hay Press.

Patent for a new and improved hay-press. This design consists, "in combination with the plungers and their rack-stems, the cog, the brackets . . . curved as described, and having the flange, combined with the ways . . . and the anti-friction rolls, operating each on the rear of one of the rack-stems . . . [which are] combined with the brackets, detachably secured to the press, their forward ends constituting in connection with the rear plate of the press guide-ways for said stems" (lines 80-100).
Date: June 14, 1887
Creator: Cope, Mason L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Gate (open access)

Gate

Patent for an improvement to gates. This model consists of a gate mounted at the middle on a vertical post pivoted at top and bottom.
Date: July 10, 1883
Creator: Cope, Mason L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Feeder for Cotton Presses. (open access)

Feeder for Cotton Presses.

Patent for a new and improved feeder for cotton presses. This design is "constructed with a receiving-box and a feed-box separated by a sliding plate attached to a follower secured to the piston-rod of a steam-cylinder, to adapt the said feeder to be interposed between a cotton-gin and a baling-press. The inlet and outlet valves of the steam-cylinder are connected by two pairs of connecting-rods with two levers, so that the movements of the piston can be readily controlled" (lines 19-28).
Date: March 10, 1885
Creator: Selz, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed planter. (open access)

Seed planter.

Patent for the improvement of seed planters, according to the inventor, "by providing the hopper of the same with regulating devices, whereby the seed may be planted in desired quantities and at desired intervals".
Date: February 9, 1886
Creator: Ratliff, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash-Holder. (open access)

Sash-Holder.

Patent for improved sash-fasteners, which relates to sash-fasteners, the object being to furnish a simple and effective substitute for the ordinary sash weights and locks.
Date: September 13, 1881
Creator: Barb, Gustavas Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence. (open access)

Fence.

Patent for a new and improved fence. This design "is to provide a simple and improved fence which can be built with superior facility and economy, and utilize trees in range with the fence, and which will furthermore possess advantages in point of inexpensiveness, durability, and general efficiency" (lines 12-17).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Ferguson, John Stephenson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence. (open access)

Fence.

Patent for a new and improved fence. This design "relates to that class of farm-fences embodying upright posts and suspended panels comprising rails and suspending-wires; and its object is to provide a simple and improved fence of this character wherein rails of any length may be used, in which but one suspending-wire to each panel is employed, in lieu of at both ends of the same, as commonly constructed, and in which one or more damaged posts may be replaced without interfering with the fence proper" (lines 8-18).
Date: December 10, 1889
Creator: Manry, William T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Attachment for Harvesters and Mowing Machines. (open access)

Attachment for Harvesters and Mowing Machines.

Patent for a new and improved attachment for harvesters and mowers. This design is "to afford means whereby a mowing or reaping machine may be enabled easily to travel over soft or marshy ground; . . . the novelty consists in a shoe proper for each driving-wheel of the machine, each shoe made of a curved piece of metal . . . and provided with a long narrow slot running lengthwise of the shoe, . . . and so adapted that under each wheel one of the shoes shall be placed in such a manner that one of the shoes shall pass through the longitudinal slot in the shoe" (lines 19-32).
Date: June 28, 1887
Creator: Jones, Jeremiah C. & Marshall, Sumner B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash-Holder (open access)

Sash-Holder

Patent for an improved window-sash lock.
Date: August 1, 1882
Creator: Carson, William C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "the combination, with a supporting-frame, of a revolving hopper, comprising circular heads connected by cross-bars having recesses, circular strips inclosing the cross-bars and leaving a space between their inner ends, flanges secured between and projecting through the circular strips and leaving a space between them, a slotted plate located on one of the bars of the frame and having its end located between the flanges, and a set-screw for clamping the plate in place" (lines 92-103).
Date: November 30, 1886
Creator: Holland, Willis Asa
System: The Portal to Texas History