Cotton Marking Brush. (open access)

Cotton Marking Brush.

Patent for a new and improved cotton-marking brush. This design has for one of its objects "is to construct a brush that will permit the trimming down of the bristles at an angle without injuring or damaging the brush. . . . In marking cotton-bales and the like a brush with an inclined edge is desirable" (lines 16-21).
Date: February 5, 1884
Creator: Pfeifer, Gustav
System: The Portal to Texas History
Locking Pawl for Anchor Chains. (open access)

Locking Pawl for Anchor Chains.

Patent for a new and improved locking pawl for anchor chains. This design is "to provide a novel combination of parts whereby the rising and falling and horizontally-moving clamping-block can be rigidly locked in its engagement with the cable to stop the latter; also, to provide novel means for protecting the wood-work of the vessel from wear as the cable is moved" (lines 13-19).
Date: February 19, 1884
Creator: Lucas, Thomas P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Hydraulic Excavating Machine. (open access)

Hydraulic Excavating Machine.

Patent for a new and improved hydraulic excavator. This design "consists in combining a submerged propeller-wheel with a water-jet tube having a flexible connection with the supply-pipe, so as to permit the water-jet tube to rise and fall . . . and also move laterally, whereby the tube will, when it meets an obstruction, yield sufficiently to prevent breaking, jarring, or injuring any of the parts, the water-jet tube and propeller bearing such relative positions to each other that the . . . obstructions disengaged by the jet will be held in suspension . . . and carried off by the natural current" (lines 14-27).
Date: January 15, 1884
Creator: Mansfield, Samuel M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Refrigerating Machine. (open access)

Refrigerating Machine.

Patent for improvement of refrigerating machines with detachable top and hinged sides with refrigerant pipes extending longitudinally. Accompanied by illustrations.
Date: February 5, 1884
Creator: Lee, Charles B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sash Fastener. (open access)

Sash Fastener.

Patent for a new and improved sash fastener. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a window frame and sash, of a fastener consisting of stops secured to the frame and formed with beveled ends and a shoulder . . . and a button pivotally secured to the sash and recessed to form a triangular projection, and a finger-piece extension, which latter serves also as a weight to effect an automatic fastening as the window is lowered" (lines 72-80).
Date: March 4, 1884
Creator: Bendy, Napoleon Bonaparte
System: The Portal to Texas History
Railroad Switch. (open access)

Railroad Switch.

Patent for a new and improved railroad switch. This design "consists in securing the short switch-rail to a long guard-rail, instead of pivoting it to the end of the sliding-rail or supporting-plate, the said guard-rail having the end remote from the short switch-rail spiked securely to the track, and the end carrying the switch-rail provided with lever or other moving devices whereby the switch-rails are thrown" (lines 21-29).
Date: January 15, 1884
Creator: Crowley, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Poultry Coop. (open access)

Poultry Coop.

Patent for a new and improved poultry coop. This design's "interior . . . has a vertical central partition between which and the ends of the coop are vertical transverse partitions and vertical longitudinal partitions, which preferably consist of strips . . . forming compartments, each of a sufficient size to contain a given number of a given kind of poultry . . . as the coop is divided off into compartments the poultry can with great ease be examined as to condition, and not being in large mass, but being separated into small numbers, they are kept in a better state of preservation and health" (lines 25-44).
Date: February 5, 1884
Creator: Bleike, William T., Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History