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
Corn Sheller. (open access)

Corn Sheller.

Patent for a new and improved corn-sheller. This design, "[o]n its rear face, at the upper end of the body of the corn-sheller . . . provide[s] a hinged nubber-plate, which serves as a supporting-arm, and is constructed . . . for use in breaking or cutting off the smaller end of the ear of corn, at which end unsound kernels of corn are frequently found. The nubber-plate is hinged . . . to the upper end of the rear face of the body, and when opened out extends at nearly a right angle from the body and inclines slightly downward. When folded, the nubber-plate rests against the rear face of the body" (lines 39-52).
Date: September 13, 1887
Creator: Price, Benjamin B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brick Press. (open access)

Brick Press.

Patent for a new and improved press for bricks. This design "relates to certain improvements in that class of brick-presses in which the clay is molded into shape by hand-power; and the object of [the] improvement is to form a cheap, durable, and effective machine for accomplishing the work" (lines 10-15).
Date: September 6, 1881
Creator: Thomas, John S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Miner's Lamp. (open access)

Miner's Lamp.

Patent for a new and improved miner's lamp. This design "may be attached to any wooden structure in the mine, to any crevice in the rock, or to the earthen wall of the mine, and when set upon any ledge or flat surface prevented from tipping over, and when attached to the hat or other garment of the miner kept from swinging or turning out of proper position; also, [it] provid[es] the lamp with a rod for adjusting the wick of the lamp for regulating the flame of the lamp" (lines 10-19).
Date: September 11, 1883
Creator: Lee, Charles A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Sulky Carriage for Plows. (open access)

Sulky Carriage for Plows.

Patent for a new and improved sulky plow. This design "furnish[es] a sulky-frame and plow supporting and adjusting devices of a simplified construction, and [provides] more effective means for gaging the depth of the penetration of the plow into the ground, and guiding or steadying the movement thereof" (lines 17-23).
Date: September 20, 1881
Creator: Ward, James & Washburn, Rufus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Safety Spout for Lamps. (open access)

Safety Spout for Lamps.

Patent for a new and improved safety spout for lamps. This design is for an angled tube with a mouth to receive oil and a threaded end to screw onto an oil lamp. This allows for the lamp to be safely refilled while lit.
Date: September 27, 1881
Creator: Ingle, Ezra W.
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