Car-Replacer. (open access)

Car-Replacer.

Patent for "car-replacers or wrecking-frogs employed for guiding the wheels of a derailed car or locomotive to the rails." (Lines 7-10) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 11, 1896
Creator: Hawkins, Robert B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Balanced-Valve Testing and Locking Device. (open access)

Balanced-Valve Testing and Locking Device.

Patent for "a simple testing and locking device for balanced valves of locomotives, the testing device being so placed with relation to the valve that it may be accurately determined whether the valve on one or the other side of the engine is leaking without removing the outer plates form the valve-casing or removing the covers from the steam-chest." (Lines 8-16) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 15, 1897
Creator: Sadler, James Alexander
System: The Portal to Texas History
Clinometer or Slope Measurer. (open access)

Clinometer or Slope Measurer.

Patent for a new and improved clinometer. This design "is to provide a simple and inexpensive device for taking measurements in prismoidal formula and to avoid the calculation of the triangle and enable the slope to be readily written from the instrument" (lines 16-21). It "compris[es] the square composed of the stationary short bar or arm and the stationary long bar or arm rigidly secured to one side of the short arm or bar and provided on its face with a spirit-level and having a scale of graduations of which the length of the short bar or arm is the unit, the curved brace connecting the said parts" (lines 60-68).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Parks, James Harvey
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire-Heater. (open access)

Tire-Heater.

Patent for improvements in tire-heater by using a tire box with a number of horizontal bars, tires are placed “into the front of the box and moved into correct position upon the horizontal bars without necessarily lifting the tires.” (Lines 29-32) Diverging arms are secured to the axis inside the tire box. Lamps are secured at the outer ends of the diverging arms. These diverging arms operate by a regulating crank which makes the lamps revolved beneath the tires, therefore heating the tires. Illustration is included.
Date: September 8, 1891
Creator: Parks, James H.
System: The Portal to Texas History