Automatic Electric Alarm. (open access)

Automatic Electric Alarm.

Patent for an inexpensive, simple, and durable automatic electric alarm that allows people in house or hotel rooms, mines, ships, shops, etc. to signal for another person. The alarm is wired to a clock so it can be programmed to go off at a certain time.
Date: January 7, 1896
Creator: Stansel, Thomas J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bicycle Wheel. (open access)

Bicycle Wheel.

Patent for a new and improved bicycle wheel. This design calls for an inner tire wrapped in uniformly distributed elastic bands to connect it to the outer tire. This new tire allows for the spring and comfort of pneumatic tires while rendering the pneumatic tubes of the latter obsolete.
Date: December 29, 1896
Creator: Neild, Edwin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Blind Stop. (open access)

Blind Stop.

Patent for a new and improved blind-stop. This design is "to provide a cheap and simple device designed to be secured to a window-casing and be interposed between any two adjacent pivoted slats, and thus support the same and the series in an open position and against accidental closing by their own weight or by the wind" (lines 9-16). It consists in the "holder for slats of blinds, consisting of a spring-metal strip bent at its center to form an eye and opposite terminals, the latter being adapted to be interposed between two adjacent slats, and the ends of the terminals oppositely bent" (lines 72-77).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Deats, Wallen S. & Brown, Daniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vehicle-Axle Bearing. (open access)

Vehicle-Axle Bearing.

Patent for a strong and durable vehicle-axle bearing that reduces friction. "Oil may be admitted to the bearings [in the axle] without removing the wheel or exposing said bearings, thus preventing accumulations of dust or other foreign substance" (lines 17-20).
Date: June 11, 1895
Creator: Falk, Franz
System: The Portal to Texas History
Kiln. (open access)

Kiln.

Patent for "a new and improved kiln for burning brick and other clay ware and arranged to enable the operator to control the heat, so as to insure a uniform and equal heating of the articles set in the kiln, and at the same time requiring a small amount of fuel." (Lines 8-14) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: December 8, 1896
Creator: Thaison, Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Instrument for Breaking Car-Seals. (open access)

Instrument for Breaking Car-Seals.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in instruments for breaking car seals, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 14, 1898
Creator: Leyendecker, Thomas A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Water-Cooler. (open access)

Water-Cooler.

Patent for an improved water-cooler by wrapping the outer surface of a water container with two layers of fabric; an imperforate projection–tube from a supplemental water reservoir arranged above the water container would moist the inner layer fabric and maintain its moisture; where the outer layer fabric prevents the water forcing through, thus keeping the water cool, illustration is included.
Date: February 3, 1891
Creator: Beacham, Alexander Thacher
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ventilator for Refrigerators. (open access)

Ventilator for Refrigerators.

Patent for an improved, simple, and inexpensive ventilator for large refrigerators. It "can be readily applied to an ice box or refrigerator and so constructed that the hot air which is pressed upward is forced through the ventilator and thereby lowering the temperature of the ice box and a consequent saving of ice" (lines 23-28). The ventilator has a valve that releases hot air and automatically closes after the air is released.
Date: July 11, 1893
Creator: Netzer, Joseph
System: The Portal to Texas History
Portable Gold - Washer (open access)

Portable Gold - Washer

Patent for a new and improved portable gold-washer. This invention is to "provide an improved substitute for the crude forms of portable good-washing apparatus frequently employed" (line 8-10).
Date: November 23, 1897
Creator: Kahn, Felix
System: The Portal to Texas History
Music-Holder. (open access)

Music-Holder.

Patent for an adjustable, simple, inexpensive, and light music-holder that does not let the music slip and does not damage the music. The clamps will not get in the way of the music, and holds a book as easily as a sheet of music. Springs are not used, the staff is telescopic, and should be made from aluminum.
Date: April 30, 1895
Creator: Gross, Frederick D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Filter. (open access)

Filter.

Patent for new and useful improvements in filters, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: October 25, 1898
Creator: McLane, Albert L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Registering Voting-Machine. (open access)

Registering Voting-Machine.

Patent for a new and useful improvement in registering voting-machines.
Date: March 15, 1898
Creator: Woodman, George C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Electric Battery. (open access)

Electric Battery.

Patent for a new and improved electric battery. This design consists "[i]n an electric generator, a receptacle for steam, and means for admitting steam thereto, in combination with electrodes consisting of two parallel disks suspended within said steam-receptacle, electrodes of opposite polarity to the aforesaid electrodes arranged between the disks of the first-named electrodes, a shaft extending through the said receptacle upon which the latter electrodes are mounted, and means for rotating the said shaft" (lines 41-50).
Date: April 19, 1892
Creator: Emley, James Edward
System: The Portal to Texas History