Beauty-Pillow. (open access)

Beauty-Pillow.

Patent for improvement in beauty pillow which is slanted to draw the skin back toward the scalp to prevent wrinkling. Illustration is included.
Date: May 4, 1909
Creator: Fitze, Eloise
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Billing and Journal Sheet. (open access)

Combined Billing and Journal Sheet.

Patent for improvements in combined billing and journal sheets there by each sheet in the journal will serve as a billing sheet, a duplicate billing sheet, and a journal page at the same time. (Lines 18-20) Further, the bound book will serve as a permanent journal after the bills have been removed. (Lines 25-26) Illustration is included.
Date: January 4, 1910
Creator: Hartley, James William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Coin-Holder. (open access)

Coin-Holder.

Patent for improvement in coin-holder “to be use on a belt to be worn by a person or on a stand placed on a counter, desk, or the like, and arranged to hold coins of desired denominations and to permit the user to conveniently and quickly remove coins of various denominations for making changes.” (Lines 10-16) Illustration is included.
Date: December 4, 1900
Creator: Miller, Thomas Octavus
System: The Portal to Texas History
Book Type-Writer. (open access)

Book Type-Writer.

Patent for certain new and useful improvements in book type writers, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: July 4, 1899
Creator: Johnson, Jahu W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combined Cotton Chopper and Cultivator (open access)

Combined Cotton Chopper and Cultivator

Patent for combining both cotton choppers and cultivators. This will create a more easily operated piece of machinery.
Date: February 4, 1902
Creator: Bass, James Milton, Sr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Barrel-Shelf (open access)

Barrel-Shelf

Patent for barrel shelves which attach to barrels to hold up sacks during filling and fold up when out of use.
Date: May 4, 1909
Creator: Hughes, Alonzo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ballot-Box (open access)

Ballot-Box

Patent for a ballot box using black and white balls.
Date: March 4, 1902
Creator: Green, Charles D.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Collapsible Life-Boat (open access)

Collapsible Life-Boat

Patent for a lifeboat that can be rolled and unrolled from the side of vessels for easy access for patrons on boats in the event of emergency
Date: January 4, 1916
Creator: Dolejska, Frank & Herzik, Louis M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for the Conversion of Liquids, Fluids, and Oils. (open access)

Apparatus for the Conversion of Liquids, Fluids, and Oils.

Patent for an apparatus for the conversion of liquids, fluids, and oils. This invention is to use high heat to change the original oils and fluids into oils and fluids of better quality and value.
Date: November 4, 1919
Creator: Adams, Joseph H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Fishing-Tool. (open access)

Fishing-Tool.

Patent for improvements on the Fishing-Tool, including illustrations. The tool was improved in order to make the boring of wells using pipes more efficient.
Date: October 4, 1921
Creator: McMillian, John F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Calipers. (open access)

Calipers.

Patent for calipers that make it easier to read measurements, by having a strip of measuring tape at the ends that allows users to determine the distance between the arms easier. The measuring tape component is also retractable.
Date: April 4, 1922
Creator: Miller, William James
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vine Cutter. (open access)

Vine Cutter.

Patent for a new and improved vine-cutter. This design "is to provide a suitable device . . . whereby a sweet-potato vine may be severed from the main stalk on each side of a ridge, the parts of the same being of simple and effective construction and operation" (lines 12-17). It consists in "a post or support, divergent elongated horizontally-arranged cutters secured to the opposite sides thereof and having their lower rear sides formed into cutting-edges of concave form, said cutters being deflected downward at a slight angle of inclination" (lines 66-72).
Date: October 4, 1892
Creator: Francis, Samuel H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Valve-Flushing Means (open access)

Valve-Flushing Means

Patent for a method of expelling debris and deposits in a foot valve, including illustrations.
Date: May 4, 1920
Creator: Coulson, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Lubricator. (open access)

Lubricator.

Patent for a new and improved lubricator. This design "relates to improvements in that class of lubricators wherein the oil reservoir or vessel is provided with a discharge-pipe passing through the bottom to the point of delivery, and rising within the reservoir to near its top, the steam rising in such pipe condensing and falling by gravity to the bottom of the reservoir, thus displacing the oil, and causing it to rise and flow down through the pipe to the parts to be lubricated" (lines 8-17).
Date: March 4, 1884
Creator: Bissett, Jean
System: The Portal to Texas History
Loose-Leaf Binder (open access)

Loose-Leaf Binder

Patent for loose-leaf binders. A strong and easy way to attach or remove loose leaf papers from a flat book.
Date: January 4, 1906
Creator: Owen, Thomas
System: The Portal to Texas History
Machine For Picking and Cleaning Cotton (open access)

Machine For Picking and Cleaning Cotton

Patent for a machine for picking and cleaning cotton. Illustration included.
Date: September 4, 1906
Creator: Richmond, George E. & Desel, Charles L.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Floor - Set. (open access)

Floor - Set.

Patent for a new and useful improvements in floor sets. This invention "is designed for use in laying floors or putting up sidings and ceilings" (line 13-14).
Date: January 4, 1898
Creator: Leavens, Charles William
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Brick-Machines. (open access)

Improvement in Brick-Machines.

Patent for improvement in brick machines by “providing the mixing and grinding-shaft with arms at the bottom, adapted in form and arrangement for pressing the clay through the openings, in the bottom of the curb, into the moulds, below, which rest on ways above a sliding carrier, provided with brackets, for forcing the moulds out.” (Lines 26-34) Illustration is included.
Date: May 4, 1869
Creator: Morgan, Asa
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Machine for Cutting Stalks in the Field Preparatory to Plowing. (open access)

Improvement in Machine for Cutting Stalks in the Field Preparatory to Plowing.

Patent for improvement in machine for clearing cotton and corn-fields of the stalks after the crops have been gathered by “providing a revolving drum or roller with knives, set spirally around it, which cut the stalks of cotton or corn-fields into pieces of any desired length, for the purpose of being plowed under the surface for fertilizing, by rolling it over them.” (Lines 14-19) Illustration is included.
Date: May 4, 1869
Creator: Wright, Reuben
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Churns. (open access)

Improvement in Churns.

Patent for "a new and Improved Churn" (lines 5-6) including illustrations.
Date: August 4, 1874
Creator: Ewing, Nathaniel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tire (open access)

Tire

Patent for tires for vehicle wheels carcasses built-up with metallic reinforcing inlays which are provided with internal air tubes to improve on use and less expensive to produce.
Date: May 4, 1915
Creator: Varnell, Clyde
System: The Portal to Texas History
Tree-Heater (open access)

Tree-Heater

Patent for a tree heater for putting under small trees to protect them from cold weather.
Date: March 4, 1913
Creator: Wilson, Luther M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a new and improved plow. This design consists, "with the standard and blade, of the removable L-shaped landside bar or plate, having one part or arm secured by a bolt or otherwise between the upper part of the blade and standard and the other part or arm standing at about right angles backward to resist the mold-board thrust as a landside" (lines 5-12).
Date: March 4, 1890
Creator: Stewart, John A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Pump-Piston. (open access)

Pump-Piston.

Patent for an improved pump piston used to pump oil from deep wells. The main improvement in this piston is that it is less susceptible to damage from sand or sediment by keeping sediment out of the piston valve, thus preventing it from accruing any long term damage that may render the piston irreparable. This design is also capable of fixing any wear due to sand or grit without removing the piston from the well.
Date: May 4, 1920
Creator: Coulson, William J.
System: The Portal to Texas History