Blotter Holder. (open access)

Blotter Holder.

Patent for a new and improved blotter-holder. This design "relates to improvements in devices for attaching to the top of a desk the sheet of blotting-paper usually employed as a surface upon which to write; and it consists in certain appliances by which the blotter will be held tightly and securely to the desk-top and which will present no obtruding edges" (lines 11-18).
Date: May 3, 1892
Creator: Welch, James S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wire-Stretcher (open access)

Wire-Stretcher

Patent for a wire stretcher for stretching wire to build fences.
Date: December 30, 1890
Creator: Burdick, John
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wheeled Scraper (open access)

Wheeled Scraper

Patent for an improvement to scrapers so that "the handling of the scraper-bowl to load, convey, and discharge the dirt may be accomplished with little or no labor on the part of the operator" (lines 14-19).
Date: September 13, 1892
Creator: Rath, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Scraper. (open access)

Scraper.

Patent for a new and improved road scraper. Prior to this design, "difficulty has been experienced in . . . discharging the dirt from the pan or bowl . . . It is the object of [the] present invention to . . . obviate the difficulty mentioned, and to construct a scraper which will be practically self-dumping . . . the invention consists . . . in a scraper in which the bowl is divided with the rear section hinged at the back in such manner as that when allowed to drop it will dump the contained dirt, and, if desired, arrest the motion of the lower portion of the bowl and cause the same to tilt sufficiently" (lines 16-40).
Date: February 11, 1890
Creator: Rath, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History