Amusement Device. (open access)

Amusement Device.

Patent for a Ferris wheel in which the passenger cars rotate horizontally in addition to rotating vertically with the direction of the main wheel.
Date: May 24, 1921
Creator: Lindamood, Roy S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Freezing Wine. (open access)

Apparatus for Freezing Wine.

Patent for a device that cools wine and liquor. The device "will produce the desired results in much shorter time than is now employed by the common method and apparatus" (lines 11-14).
Date: May 9, 1893
Creator: Wadhams, Arthur
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Steaming and Cleansing Barrels, & c. (open access)

Apparatus for Steaming and Cleansing Barrels, & c.

Patent for an improved apparatus for steaming and cleaning barrels for the reception of resin, turpentine, oils, molasses, sirups, and other like liquids.
Date: May 5, 1873
Creator: Lee, Archibald K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Gun or Rifle. (open access)

Automatic Gun or Rifle.

Patent for a gun or rifle with a magazine, which quickly and automatically ejects spent cartridges and reloads.
Date: May 7, 1912
Creator: Douglas, William M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bicycle (open access)

Bicycle

Patent for a bicycle propelled by the front wheel. Illustrations included.
Date: May 17, 1910
Creator: Franklin, Robert M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind Slat Adjuster. (open access)

Blind Slat Adjuster.

Patent for a new and improved blind adjuster. This design consists in "[a] shutter-stop consisting of a slotted bar linked to the end of the slat-actuating rod of a shutter, in combination with a plate having a spur on one side and a screw-threaded stud on the other, a washer, and a thumb-nut" (lines 93-97).
Date: May 4, 1886
Creator: Lewis, Paulinus Aloysius
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bottle. (open access)

Bottle.

Patent for a bottle that has a mechanism near its opening, and when the cork is pulled out, it becomes impossible to refill the bottle and use it again. The point of this bottle is so that after it has been sealed, it cannot be opened and emptied without apparent evidence that it has been opened.
Date: May 4, 1897
Creator: Phillips, George C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cabinet for Holding Postage Stamps, &c. (open access)

Cabinet for Holding Postage Stamps, &c.

Patent for a new and improved cabinet. This design "consists in a commercial postage-stamp holding, preserving, and denomination-indicating book, the same having its blank leaves formed of paper so prepared that postage-stamps will not adhere to them, and some of said leaves being provided at intervals with exposed tabs which have numerical indices marked upon them and serve for indicating the denomination of the stamps placed between the leaves at different parts of the book. It also consists in . . . a rigid outer supporting-cabinet provided with means for confining the book" (lines 12-27).
Date: May 24, 1892
Creator: Exline, Marcus P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "has for its objects to provide a coupling-pin which can be reversed when one end becomes worn, to provide a reversible pin of novel construction, which is adapted to automatically engage the ordinary coupling-link, and to provide a coupling-pin of novel construction, with a device for holding it elevated when it is not desired to engage a coupling-link" (lines 10-18).
Date: May 15, 1883
Creator: Fowler, Joseph C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Fender. (open access)

Car-Fender.

Patent for a simple car-fender that improves on the types of "fenders which are attached to the front end of street and other car trucks for the purpose of saving human life by preventing a body from being thrown under the car wheels" (lines 10-14). The invention does not let a body under the car wheels.
Date: May 22, 1894
Creator: Rau, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Circular Railroad or Round About. (open access)

Circular Railroad or Round About.

Patent for novel improvements on circular railroads, and also to means for propelling a turn-table on which the carriages are secured.
Date: August 22, 1882
Creator: Sturm, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination-Lock. (open access)

Combination-Lock.

Patent for improvement upon a combination-lock.
Date: May 1, 1888
Creator: Bergman, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Composition For Roofing And Paving. (open access)

Composition For Roofing And Paving.

Patent for a process "to produce a compound which is strong, tenacious, and pliable, which will not be affected by climatic changes, and which will resist the corrosive action of acids and alkalies; and to this end my invention consists in a compound composed of asphaltum, pine-tar, and oxide of iron, as will more fully hereinafter appear.” (Lines 8-15) Includes instructions.
Date: May 9, 1882
Creator: Lee, Archibald K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electrical Furnace. (open access)

Electrical Furnace.

Patent for
Date: May 16, 1899
Creator: Eldridge, Hilliary
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fiber Separating Machine (open access)

Fiber Separating Machine

Patent for machines for separating the textile fiber of various plants, and has for its objects generally to simplify such machines, perfect their product, and avoid waste (lines 11-15) with illustrations.
Date: May 13, 1902
Creator: Allision, Samuel Benjamin & Dorrestein, C. A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fly-Screen. (open access)

Fly-Screen.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in fly screens.
Date: May 3, 1898
Creator: Hart, Sara C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Grease-Trap. (open access)

Grease-Trap.

Patent for a grease-trap that improves on a patent previously granted to the inventor (No. 506,690). The improvement includes providing "a strainer device for sewer traps, and the like, which will prevent any solid matter passing therethrough, and at the same time capable of being removed for the purpose of cleansing, repairs or other purposes" (lines 22-26).
Date: May 8, 1894
Creator: Heffron, Isaac
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydrocarbon-Burner (open access)

Hydrocarbon-Burner

Patent for a burner that uses crude petroleum as well as kerosene, or gasoline. This device works in a way to prevent the jets from clogging and produces a steady flame.
Date: May 14, 1902
Creator: Wadkins, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Bale-Ties. (open access)

Improvement in Bale-Ties.

Patent for an improved bale-tie which is to be used especially with cotton, includes instructions and illustration.
Date: May 28, 1878
Creator: Arnold, Lloyd
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Bleaching Resins. (open access)

Improvement in Bleaching Resins.

Patent for a process to "bleach, clarify, and refine the commonest and lowest grade of resin, and such is now known to the trade as black resin, as to produce therefrom, by a cheap and simple means or process, an article as pure as extra pale, or resin which is the product of the virgin dip, and which for use in all the arts where the finest quality of resin is desirable or required, is equally as valuable." (Lines 14-23) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 27, 1873
Creator: Lee, Archibald K.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Box and Bale Hooks. (open access)

Improvement in Box and Bale Hooks.

Patent for "a guard or shield, of leather or other equivalent material, combined with the handle or shank of the hook used for turning or otherwise handling bales or boxes, &c., to prevent the hands from rubbing or pressing against the bale or box, whereby the are often injured." (Lines 6-12) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 26, 1874
Creator: Knight, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton Presses.

Patent for the improvement of cotton presses to bale cotton and other materials, including illustrations.
Date: May 12, 1874
Creator: Brown, Bartlett W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Insect-Destroying Compounds. (open access)

Improvement in Insect-Destroying Compounds.

Patent for "a mixture of the arseniate of soda and water, or arseniate of soda, dextrine, and water, prepared in certain proportions of the respective ingredients, for the purpose of destroying cotton-worms." (Lines 7-12) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 19, 1874
Creator: Braman, John D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Mechanical Movements. (open access)

Improvement in Mechanical Movements.

Patent for a specific arrangement of a single-cylinder engine and two shafts with connecting rods that can be used to drive boat propellers.
Date: May 5, 1874
Creator: Franklin, Robert Morris
System: The Portal to Texas History