Channel Cleaner. (open access)

Channel Cleaner.

Patent for a new and improved channel cleaner. This design "is to construct an apparatus which may be anchored in a channel where there are sand-bars, for the purpose of agitating the water and stirring up the sand, so that the current may remove it. [The] invention consists in a trunk or large tube perforated along the bottom and provided at one end with a flaring mouth for concentrating the current within the trunk; also, in the combination, with the trunk, of a stirrer and a motor-screw for driving the same" (lines 17-28).
Date: April 22, 1890
Creator: Evans, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Easel and Phonograph Horn Tripod. (open access)

Combined Easel and Phonograph Horn Tripod.

Patent for a new and improved easel and phonograph horn tripod. This design "is to construct a device which may be used for holding phonograph-horns of different sizes at any desired height, and which also may be employed for holding a painting, or for the use of an artist. [The] invention consists in the combination of a pair of cross-bars, a hinged brace for supporting the bars at any required angle, and an adjustable device for regulating the spread of the bars and of the brace" (lines 22-31).
Date: August 12, 1890
Creator: Minot, Kendall James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Treating Cotton-Seed Hulls (open access)

Apparatus for Treating Cotton-Seed Hulls

Patent for "a simple and durable plant capable of use in carrying out a dry process of reducing the hulls to a finely-divided condition" (lines 8-13).
Date: October 21, 1890
Creator: Bohn, Emil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Trace Carrier. (open access)

Trace Carrier.

Patent for a new and improved trace-carrier. This design consists in "[a]n improved back-band buckle with hooks, consisting of a body portion formed of a single piece of wrought-wire, the meeting ends of each bent downward, upward, outward, and again downward to form chain-holding hooks or loops, and the tongues pivoted upon the said body portion" (lines 89-95).
Date: April 15, 1890
Creator: Brown, John Stoddart
System: The Portal to Texas History
Method of Treating Cotton-Seed Hulls (open access)

Method of Treating Cotton-Seed Hulls

Patent for "to utilize a heretofore waste product, and by means of a dry process to reduce the same to fine particles, which, being capable of felting, constitute stock" (lines 14-18).
Date: September 23, 1890
Creator: Bohn, Emil
System: The Portal to Texas History
Flower Pot Trellis (open access)

Flower Pot Trellis

Patent for a flower pot trellis which is used "to be applied to flower-pots of various sizes to support plants or vines without interfering with their roots" (p.2).
Date: April 15, 1890
Creator: Brown, John Stoddart, of Galveston, Texas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mosquito Bar Frame. (open access)

Mosquito Bar Frame.

Patent for a new and improved mosquito-bar frame. This design "consist[s], essentially, of the upright bars having their upper ends reduced . . . and provided with staples, the brackets, having loops at opposite ends and a pintle on its lower branch to enter the staples in the posts, the lateral rods carrying the loop brackets at opposite ends, and sockets . . . to receive the upper ends of the posts, the inner cross-bar arranged in the inner brackets of the lateral rods, the outer cross-bar arranged in the outer brackets of said rods, and the longitudinally-adjustable slide-bar carrying guide-eyes" lines 82-95).
Date: July 29, 1890
Creator: Meyers, John Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Crab and Fish Trap. (open access)

Crab and Fish Trap.

Patent for a new and improved seafood trap. This design consists in "a net or trap for crabs or fish, which comprises flat frame-sections hinged together, netting attached to said sections, and a rod or bar extending across said sections and engaging with suitable devices thereon for holding said sections partly extended until the hinged sides strike bottom and thereby release the rod or bar" (lines 83-90).
Date: April 1, 1890
Creator: Franklin, Robert M.
System: The Portal to Texas History