Baling-Press (open access)

Baling-Press

Patent for "a simple, light, and durable press, which may be conveniently manipulated in either a vertical or horizontal position and readily transported in a field from stack to stack of hay. . .wherein the hay may be expeditiously and effectively baled by two persons" (lines 9-16).
Date: December 11, 1888
Creator: Freytag, Anton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bedstead Tie. (open access)

Bedstead Tie.

Patent for a new and improved bedstead-tie. This design "is to obviate the spreading of the side bars of a bed, which allows the bottom slats to fall, especially those near the center of the bed; and [the design] accomplish[es] this object by providing one of the slats, preferably at or near the center, with adjustable keepers" (lines 21-27).
Date: February 12, 1889
Creator: Fernau, Magnus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press (open access)

Baling-Press

Patent for a "press as simple in construction and operation as possible, of sufficient power to do the work effectively, and arranged to be readily moved from place to place at pleasure" (lines 12-16).
Date: February 19, 1889
Creator: Hillman, William & Ripple, Joseph F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn Dasher. (open access)

Churn Dasher.

Patent for a new and improved churn-dasher for butter churns. This design calls for two weights on opposite ends of the bottom of the churn-dasher so that the dasher will "revolve with greater force and to balance it more easily upon its pivot" (lines 17-18). This lessens the wear on the bottom of the churn, which increases the longevity of the dasher.
Date: April 11, 1882
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Tool. (open access)

Combination Tool.

Patent for a new and improved multi-tool. This design consists in "the combination of the two overlapping fulcrumed or pivoted levers having handles and forward ends of flattened crescent shape bent in reverse directions to cause their extreme reduced ends to abut to form nippers, and provided with beveled shoulders at the bases of their inner edges to form cutters and with serrated projections in rear of the pivot or fulcrum, and an angular arm movably attached to said pivot or fulcrum, carrying a receptacle adapted to be adjusted under the nippers for the reception of staples" (lines 29-42).
Date: July 16, 1889
Creator: Carter, James T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling Press. (open access)

Baling Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling press. This design consists "of the base-plate, the casing made in two trough-shaped sections . . . one of which is hinged to the base-plate the bifurcated uprights, the operating-levers on each side hinged to the uprights, the compressing-beam extending across the baling-chamber and through the uprights, and connections between the compressing-beam and the levers" (lines 92-100).
Date: September 24, 1889
Creator: Hillman, William & Ripple, Joseph F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Air Motor. (open access)

Air Motor.

Patent for a new and improved air-motor. This design is of an "air-motor, consisting of an engine, single-acting air-pump, air-receiver, and the double-acting exhaust-pump, with the valves and connections . . . [and] the levers and segments" (lines 81-87).
Date: July 21, 1885
Creator: Koniakowsky, Alois M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cuff Button and Holder. (open access)

Cuff Button and Holder.

Patent for a new and improved cuff button and holder. This design consists in "[a] cuff button and holder having in combination a shank-plate, two buttons, one attached at each end of the shank-plate, and a clamp-bar, one end of which is for attachment to the shirt-sleeve, and the other end having a device to couple with said shank-plate" (lines 1-6).
Date: August 11, 1885
Creator: Stuart, John A. & Woodmansee, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn-Planter. (open access)

Corn-Planter.

Patent for improvement of corn-planters, with illustrations. The purpose of this corn-planters patent was to improve existing corn-planters through, "peculiar construction and combination of devices, that will be more fully set forth hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claims" (lines 9-12).
Date: October 18, 1887
Creator: Koepke, William. Wm. Koepke.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Boiler Feeder Regulator. (open access)

Boiler Feeder Regulator.

Patent for a new and improved regulator for boiler feeders. This design "consists in certain novel details of construction, arrangement, and operation whereby a superior machine is produced for the purpose of regulating and supplying boilers with water, keeping the water at a uniform height, preventing explosions from low water, and automatically removing sediment, impurities, and foam as fast as it accumulates" (lines 14-22).
Date: March 20, 1888
Creator: Riedel, Gustav Adolph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press. (open access)

Baling-Press.

Patent for improvements to a machine that compresses bolts of cloth or waste into compact bales for shipment.
Date: March 18, 1884
Creator: Reagan, Edgar U. G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Baling Press. (open access)

Cotton-Baling Press.

Patent for "an improved construction of hydraulic baling-presses, whereby it is designed to provide simple and more durable and reliable presses of this kind than any now in use" (lines 8-12).
Date: July 29, 1884
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bird-Cage. (open access)

Bird-Cage.

Patent for improvements in bird cages by "having a woven-wire casing the meshes of which cannot be penetrated by ordinary insects, such as flies,&c., will be lured into the cage to be devoured by the bird" (lines 16-21).
Date: February 3, 1880
Creator: Flato, Fridrich W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
BIRD-CAGE (open access)

BIRD-CAGE

Patent for a new and improved combined Bird-Cages and Fly-Traps. The improvements include the use of netting or wire gauze, making holes at the bottom of the cage to insert feed-cups or let flies in when the cage is used to catch flies, and placing a ring over the seed-cups in order to prevent insects or flies from getting into the cage when it is used as a bird-cage.
Date: July 6, 1880
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Extracting Oils (open access)

Apparatus for Extracting Oils

Patent for a new and useful improvement "in a novel process and combination of devices or apparatus for extracting the oil from cotton seeds and other oil bearing seeds" (lines 8-12). Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 14, 1886
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect Destroyer. (open access)

Insect Destroyer.

Patent for a new and improved ant trap. This design "form[s] a trap or destroyer for ants which can be placed around the top of their hole and then filled with some poisonous compound, so that when the ants attempt to crawl over the ring, frame, or collar they will be poisoned by the compound, and thus destroyed" (lines 23-29). By utilizing a drip to distribute the poison to the ring, frame, or collar, the poison is replenished as it evaporates.
Date: February 14, 1882
Creator: Pinter, Francis T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Insect Destroyer. (open access)

Insect Destroyer.

Patent for a new and improved pest trap. This design "consists in the combination of a suitable fire chamber provided with a cover at its top, a pipe which passes through its side to admit a blast of air, a removable bottom, which is supported inside of the bottom of the chamber upon suitable supports, and a removable pipe through which the products of combustion are forced . . . when these parts are destroyed they have only to be replaced by new ones" (lines 14-28).
Date: November 20, 1883
Creator: Melcher, John C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump and Sprinkler. (open access)

Pump and Sprinkler.

Patent for a new and improved pump and sprinkler. This design "consists of a portable force-pump provided with a capricious air-chamber, and having on the end of its discharge-pipe a sprinkler of novel form, which causes the liquid to be ejected in a fine spray. . . . [This] provide[s] a simple, durable, and effective device, designed especially for use in sprinkling cotton-plants with poisonous solutions, to protect them against the ravages of injurious insects and worms" (lines 7-17).
Date: March 1, 1881
Creator: Polansky, Alois Josef
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the adjustable standard-iron and the handles, of the transverse bar, clamp or hook bolt, and the pivoted adjustable brace, connected to the furrow-bar of said iron" (lines 87-91).
Date: January 17, 1882
Creator: Nitschmann, Franz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tool for Removing Chips from Mortises. (open access)

Tool for Removing Chips from Mortises.

Patent for a new and improved chisel. This design "consist[s] of a body portion which is taped from its shank to near its point, the said point being provided with a barbed portion having a round swell" (lines 57-61).
Date: June 23, 1885
Creator: Winzenreid, Godfrey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Press for Expressing Oil from Cotton and Other Seeds. (open access)

Press for Expressing Oil from Cotton and Other Seeds.

Patent for a new and improved oil-press. This design "consists in certain novel constructions and combination of the pressing-plates with each other and the ram of the press, and in means for operating said plates in independent series, whereby great efficiency is obtained, and the plates, which are guttered or grooved, may be readily cleaned" (lines 18-24).
Date: December 21, 1886
Creator: Baumgarten, Christian
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the plow-beam, of the staple secured to the plow-beam, the curved shank provided at its upper front end with the triangular loop having notches on its lower edge, which engage with the said staple, the bolt pivoted in the said plow-beam and connected to the rear portion of the shank under the handles, and the blades secured to the lower front end of shank under the staple" (lines 72-81).
Date: May 1, 1888
Creator: Nitschmann, Franz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Motor. (open access)

Motor.

Patent for a new and improved motor. This design "relates to a mechanical power adapted to operate a churn, saw, and for other light work, and it has for its object to provide a device of this character which shall be cheap and simple in its construction effective in its operation, and one that will be strong and durable" (lines 9-15).
Date: February 24, 1885
Creator: Forister, John Hardin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hilling Plow. (open access)

Hilling Plow.

Patent for a new and improved hilling-plow. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the beam, the stock, and the pivoted heel-bar, of the adjustable brace connecting said stock and heel-bar together, and the adjustable brace connecting the said brace with the rear of the beam" (lines 63-68).
Date: January 13, 1885
Creator: Schuster, Rudolph
System: The Portal to Texas History