Cut-Out for Electric Circuits. (open access)

Cut-Out for Electric Circuits.

Patent for a new and improved cut-out for circuits. This design consists in "[a] cut-out for an incandescent lamp embodying, essentially, a magnet or solenoid in derivation from the filament, spring-contacts completing the circuit from the filament to the line on one side, and an armature-lever electrically connected with said magnet adapted to disrupt the circuit between said contacts and maintain the continuity of the circuit through itself" (lines 93-101).
Date: October 30, 1888
Creator: McDill, Henry C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling (open access)

Car-Coupling

Patent for "an automatic car-coupling which may be uncoupled from the sides of the cars, and which will allow of a car on which it is provided being coupled to a car provided with the ordinary link-and-pin coupling" (lines 7-12).
Date: October 30, 1888
Creator: Eddleman, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Band-Cutter and Feeder (open access)

Band-Cutter and Feeder

Patent for "new and useful improvements in band-cutters and feeders" (lines 6-7).
Date: February 26, 1889
Creator: King, Charlie C. & Trimble, Alonzo D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Door Check. (open access)

Door Check.

Patent for a new and improved door-check. This design consists in "the combination, with a sliding-bolt provided with a wedge-plate, of the catch or slide mounted on the bolt and capable of a limited longitudinal movement, and the adjustable bar arranged between the adjacent edges of the wedge-plate and the catch or slide and tapered toward its lower end to fit the edges of the wedge-plate and catch or slide, the said adjustable bar being provided with a stud which operates in a suitable transverse guide-slot, whereby the bar is held from longitudinal movement" (lines 26-37).
Date: February 26, 1889
Creator: Baker, Owen T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Seat (open access)

Car-Seat

Patent for "an inexpensive form of car-seat, wherein the parts are so arranged that the back of the seat may be adjusted to almost any angle desired, a leg or foot rest, which also may be adjusted to suit the convenience of the occupant of the seat" (lines 7-13).
Date: April 2, 1889
Creator: Goelet, Edward B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Door. (open access)

Car Door.

Patent for a new and improved door for railroad cars. This design consists in "a car having a door-opening, top and bottom tracks, and perpendicular door-posts, one post provided with a series of recesses in its side next to the opening and the other having recesses in its outer side or side nearest the end of the car . . . the door sliding on said tracks and having forwardly-projecting cleats on its front edge to enter the recesses in the first-named post, and provided on its inner side at its opposite end with cleats projecting toward its front edge to enter the recesses in second-named strip" (lines 83-95).
Date: April 2, 1889
Creator: Goelet, Edward B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Axle and Wheel (open access)

Car Axle and Wheel

Patent for a new and improved wheel and axle for cars. This design calls for "providing each of the axle with a fixed ratchet-wheel and providing the car-wheels with spring-pawls adapted to engage with the ratchets" (lines 21-24). This overcomes the strain that the wheels place on the axles when making turns, which reduces the chance of the car leaving its tracks.
Date: May 16, 1882
Creator: Pendleton, William S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coffee Pot. (open access)

Coffee Pot.

Patent for a new and improved coffee pot. This design "has relation to that class of coffee-pots in which the body of the pot contains a cone-shaped chamber provided at the apex with a tube for the discharge of the boiling water as it passes through the same into a receptacle containing the coffee; and the object thereof is to improve the construction of this class of coffee-pots" (lines 12-19).
Date: December 29, 1885
Creator: Covington, Philip A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fence. (open access)

Fence.

Patent for improvement to the cost and strength of fences.
Date: February 16, 1886
Creator: Tillman, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Curry Comb. (open access)

Curry Comb.

Patent for a new and improved curry-comb. This design "has relation to that class of curry-combs provided with detachable and reversible handles, and has for its object to provide simple and effective means whereby the handle can be readily detached from the comb and replaced in a reverse position, or removed for the purpose of economizing for space in packing for transportation" (lines 17-24).
Date: June 8, 1886
Creator: Johnson, Thomas Jefferson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Churn. (open access)

Churn.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the inner shell or cream-receptacle having the pipe formed therewith, and with the ring near its upper end, the outer shell having its upper end contracted to engage the ring of the cream-receptacle and inclose the pipe, and provided with the side opening at its upper end, and a valve located in the pipe to open and close by the action of the dasher moving in the cream-cylinder" (lines 1-10).
Date: May 8, 1888
Creator: Richards, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Carriage Top. (open access)

Carriage Top.

Patent for a new and improved carriage top. This design consists in "the combination, with a vehicle-seat, a series of top-supporting bows pivoted thereto, and a jointed brace having its lower end pivoted to the seat and its upper end to one of the bows, of a rigid operating-lever having its upper end pivoted to said jointed brace and its lower end adjustably connected with the seat, whereby the position of the lower end of said lever may be varied and the brace and top secured in any desired position" (lines 51-60).
Date: July 3, 1888
Creator: Goelet, Edward Buncombe
System: The Portal to Texas History
Dental-Operating Chair (open access)

Dental-Operating Chair

Patent for improvements in the construction and design of dental operating chairs.
Date: July 3, 1888
Creator: Mayfield, William Dudley
System: The Portal to Texas History
Arc Lamp (open access)

Arc Lamp

Patent for improvements arc lamps that "will be uninfluenced by the jar of the locomotive" (lines 17-19). Consisting of carbon-carriers rotated by clock-train.
Date: July 10, 1888
Creator: Gaston, E. James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Draw-Bridge (open access)

Draw-Bridge

Patent for improvements in the construction and design of draw bridges.
Date: August 14, 1888
Creator: Briggs, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Device for Transplanting Trees. (open access)

Device for Transplanting Trees.

Patent for a new and improved device for transplanting trees. This design consists, "in the combination, with a suitable head having pins or spikes around its edges, of a series of staves having transverse slots, with which the pins engage, and recessed on their edges to form openings for the roots to pass, and means for holding the staves together" (lines 83-89).
Date: August 21, 1888
Creator: Stanley, Thomas E. & Gulley, Calvin D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Bottle. (open access)

Design for a Bottle.

Design patent for "a bottle or similar receptacle designed in the configuration of a trunk, or so formed that the outline presented resembles a trunk" (lines 13-16). The accompanying illustration is not available for this design.
Date: September 6, 1887
Creator: Powell, Thomas W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Anti-Freezing Tank Valve. (open access)

Anti-Freezing Tank Valve.

Patent for a new and improved tank valve. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with the tank, its valve and lever, and valve-rod, of the frost-chamber having an annular space to receive the non-freezing compound, the stuffing-box around the rod and screw-threaded at the ends, and the screw-threaded caps . . . having necks and flanges" (lines 7-13).
Date: June 11, 1889
Creator: Barrett, William Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind Stop. (open access)

Blind Stop.

Patent for a new and improved blind stop. This design consists in "[t]he combination, with a shutter provided with pivotal slats, of a flat spring-metal fastening-plate provided with a slot for clearing the slat-pivot, and projections upon its surface for engaging with the end of the slat, and having its rear end secured to the shutter-frame and its front end projecting beyond the plane of the shutter-frame and forming a thumb-piece for operating said spring-plate" (lines 59-67).
Date: June 11, 1889
Creator: Wesson, Miley B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Baling-Press (open access)

Baling-Press

Patent for "a device of this class which shall be simple in construction, in which considerable power ma be exercised without the use of complicated machinery, and which shall be rapid and effective in operation" (lines 9-14).
Date: July 23, 1889
Creator: Anderson, Zachariah J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Printing Device (open access)

Automatic Printing Device

Patent for "improvements in automatic printing devices. . .whereby the printing is effected b the movement of the paper or fabric on which the printing is done" (lines 10-16).
Date: July 23, 1889
Creator: Barradall, Norborne D. & Bradley, Andrew Jackson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Farm Gate. (open access)

Farm Gate.

Patent for a new and improved farm gate. This design consists "[i]n a swinging-gate, the combination of a plate provided with notches upon its upper outer end and connected to the upper end of the inner gate-post, a lever pivoted to the plate and connected with the upper pintle of the gate, a latch pivoted to the lever and extending down through a slot therein to engage with the notches in the plate, and suitable cords and pulleys for operating the latch and lever" (lines 17-26).
Date: July 7, 1885
Creator: Akin, Leonidas T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Stalk Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Stalk Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved stalk cutter. This design consists in "[t]he frame mounted upon sled-runners and provided with braces, draft pole, and knives, in combination with the rake having check-bar, the sliding bar, connecting bar, and lever, all co-operating" (lines 89-92).
Date: July 28, 1885
Creator: Woodard, James A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Center and Other Tables. (open access)

Center and Other Tables.

Patent for a new and improved table. This design consists "[i]n a table, stool, or other like article of furniture, the combination, with a slotted standard and rods extending across the slots, of the legs having dowel-pins entering holes in the under side of the table-top, and cam-shaped hooks connected to the legs and engaging with the slots and rods of the standard" (lines 73-79).
Date: September 15, 1885
Creator: Burroughs, William Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History