Audiphone (open access)

Audiphone

Patent for a audiophone which reproduces sounds at their original volume and timbre through the use of diaphragms vibrated by an electric signal.
Date: October 15, 1907
Creator: Baker, John A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Brick Kiln (open access)

Brick Kiln

Patent for a brick kiln. Illustration included.
Date: November 15, 1904
Creator: Sonka, Joesph & Metzner, Robert A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Alarm for Stem-Boilers. (open access)

Automatic Alarm for Stem-Boilers.

Patent for a new and useful automatic alarm for steam boilers, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 18, 1899
Creator: Prencel, Anthony M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton-Chopper (open access)

Cotton-Chopper

Patent for a cotton chopper that operates by loosening the earth around the cotton plants and chopping them by row. Illustrations included.
Date: June 22, 1909
Creator: Gesche, Eugene C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Animal-Poke. (open access)

Animal-Poke.

Patent for a device that prevents animals such as cows from tearing down fences.
Date: February 12, 1901
Creator: Specht, W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Railway-Switch Operating Mechanism (open access)

Automatic Railway-Switch Operating Mechanism

Patent for an automatic railway switch operating mechanism with improved levers and controls.
Date: August 8, 1911
Creator: Hoffmann, Laniel F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Box Stand or Bracket (open access)

Box Stand or Bracket

Patent for a pivoting box and/or box stand for use in stores.
Date: June 2, 1903
Creator: Luensmann, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Cylindrical Power. (open access)

Automatic Cylindrical Power.

Patent for a new and improved cylindrical power-source. This design "consists in the combination of a cylindrical slotted frame with a series of blades which are connected together in pairs, and which are alternately forced through the slots in the frame to receive the force of the wind or water and then retracted, so that they will offer no resistance during a portion of the revolution of the frame. . . . The object of [the] invention is to produce a motor which is adapted for use either as a wind-wheel or a water-wheel" (lines 13-27).
Date: November 15, 1881
Creator: Hutchinson, Thomas E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Desk Receptacle. (open access)

Desk Receptacle.

Patent for a "novel, convenient, and ornamental bottle or receptacle, adapted to contain ink, a sponge, or the like, combined with a pin-cushion and a pen-wiper" (lines 11-14), with illustrations.
Date: January 17, 1893
Creator: Carolan, Eugene P.; Terrell, Edward H. & Terrell, James R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car Coupling. (open access)

Car Coupling.

Patent for a new and improved coupling for railroad cars. This design "relates to improvements in that class of car-couplings in which the link is held in the draw-head by a tongue engaging the link; and it consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of parts" (lines 7-11).
Date: September 8, 1885
Creator: Meusebach, Otto C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Corn Planter. (open access)

Corn Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design consists in "[t]he combination of the plate, having extensions and laterally-extending arm or bracket, the hopper mounted upon the extension of the plate, the seed-slide or coiled spring connecting the front end of the latter with the bracket, metal plates secured to the front and rear sides of the rear wall of the hopper above the seed-slide, the brush or cut-off arranged between said plates, and suitable operating mechanism for retracting the seed-slide against the tension of the coiled spring" (lines 6-17).
Date: February 18, 1890
Creator: Cromer, Thomas L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator. (open access)

Cultivator.

Patent for a new and improved cultivator. This design "relates to cultivators; and it has for its object to construct a device of this class . . . in which the blades or shovels shall be attached to the standards in such a manner that in the event of obstacles such as rocks or stumps being encountered during the operation of [the] machine the blades shall become detached, thereby avoiding injury to the machine" (lines 9-18).
Date: September 30, 1890
Creator: Messer, Jeremiah Clark; Garner, Allen & Williams, John Winn
System: The Portal to Texas History
Car-Coupling. (open access)

Car-Coupling.

Patent for improvements in car-couplings by using coupler-head, coupling-pin, different shapes of plates, operating-lever and link-lifter to “couple and uncouple cars without necessitating a person passing between the cars.” (Lines 14-15) Illustration is included.
Date: October 13, 1891
Creator: McBride, Thomas Anderson
System: The Portal to Texas History
Design for a Cabinet. (open access)

Design for a Cabinet.

Design patent for a cabinet with a rectangular body and an internal horizontal partition.
Date: April 5, 1895
Creator: Carolan, Eugene P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cotton Chopper. (open access)

Cotton Chopper.

Patent for a new and improved cotton chopper. This design "is to provide cotton-choppers constructed in such a manner that the cotton will be chopped to a stand by the passage of the machine along the rows of plants, leaving the hills of plants at uniform distances apart, and which shall be simple in construction, readily controlled, and convenient in use" (lines 17-24).
Date: November 30, 1886
Creator: Puls, Ernst, C.A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Crank-Axle Adjustment. (open access)

Crank-Axle Adjustment.

Patent for a crank axle adjustment "to simplify and produce and efficient crank axle that will efficiently perform its function in connection with the general structure of a plow or cultivator." (lines 13-17)
Date: June 15, 1920
Creator: Kopplin, Otto E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Automatic Heat-Regulator for Incubators. (open access)

Automatic Heat-Regulator for Incubators.

Patent for a device that allows for automatic temperature regulation in incubators. It operates by extinguishing and lighting the incubator's heating lamp wick to maintain a predetermined temperature.
Date: March 29, 1921
Creator: Wiedner, Charles
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stub-Axle Adjustment Device. (open access)

Stub-Axle Adjustment Device.

Patent for useful improvements for Stub-Axle Adjustment Devices. This device will allow for the stub-axle to be efficiently adjusted in both a vertical plane and a transverse plane with respect to the machine.
Date: November 8, 1921
Creator: Kopplin, Otto E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wagon Spring. (open access)

Wagon Spring.

Patent for a new and improved wagon spring. This design "is to provide a vehicle in which springs of great strength may be employed which will not require stay-chains, and which will not increase the height of the wagon-body and cause inconvenience in loading and unloading the vehicle and in getting in and out, and, furthermore, to provide a vehicle in which the wagon-body may be but slightly elevated above the axles, and in which the springs will have great play" (lines 17-26).
Date: February 25, 1890
Creator: Conley, Miles D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Windmill. (open access)

Windmill.

Patent for a new and improved windmill. This design "consists in the combination of a central vertical shaft a series of supporting-arms projecting horizontally out from this shaft, a number of curved buckets which are pivoted at or near their centers between these supporting-arms, and suitable springs or weights which are attached to the inner edges of these buckets" (lines 13-20).
Date: June 13, 1882
Creator: Lowther, Lorenzo Dow
System: The Portal to Texas History
Well Drilling Machine. (open access)

Well Drilling Machine.

Patent for an improvement in well drilling.
Date: April 10, 1900
Creator: Wiedner, Friedrich R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Knee-Pad (open access)

Knee-Pad

Patent for "new and useful Improvements in Knee-Pads" (lines 5-6), including instructions and illustrations.
Date: September 30, 1913
Creator: Schmitt, William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lineman's Portable Telegraph and Telephone Pole Seat. (open access)

Lineman's Portable Telegraph and Telephone Pole Seat.

Patent for a seat for linemen when stringing telegraph or telephone poles, which has clamps that go around the pole.
Date: March 24, 1908
Creator: Troell, Charles T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Induction Coil (open access)

Induction Coil

Patent for induction coil. Illustration included.
Date: April 18, 1905
Creator: Baker, John A.
System: The Portal to Texas History