Resource Type

Boiler Washing Machine. (open access)

Boiler Washing Machine.

Patent for "Improved Washing Machine" in combination with a boiler, "and with a furnace on which the boiler rests".
Date: June 28, 1870
Creator: Cottingham, Gideon W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Gate-Latches. (open access)

Improvement in Gate-Latches.

Patent for improvements in gate latches: "to provide a self closing latch, simple in its construction and easy f operation" (lines 18-19).
Date: September 26, 1871
Creator: Lee, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Wasing-Machines. (open access)

Improvement in Wasing-Machines.

Patent for improvements in washing machines.
Date: October 10, 1871
Creator: Lee, John H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Baling Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Baling Presses.

Patent for improvements to "the construction and combination of the levers, rack-bars, and pawls with each other, and with the follower and baling-box" (lines 15-17).
Date: May 10, 1870
Creator: Stroud, Bryant F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Grinding-Mills (open access)

Improvement in Grinding-Mills

Patent for an improvement in grinding-mills, combining the operative mechanism with spindles - in which the both the grinding stones obtain relative surface speeds only half the actual speed of the stones.
Date: May 9, 1871
Creator: Hensley, Henry
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Bedsteads. (open access)

Improvement in Bedsteads.

Patent for the improvement of bedsteads in order to make them more convenient and durable.
Date: August 8, 1871
Creator: Baldwin, Thomas B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Hand-Cultivators. (open access)

Improvement in Hand-Cultivators.

Patent for "hand-cultivators; and the novelty consists in the improved construction and arrangement of the stock, tongue, and plows; and in the application to the end of the tongue of a shoulder-strap to assist in working the implement." (Lines 15-20) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: February 27, 1872
Creator: Jones, William G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Choppers and Cultivators (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Choppers and Cultivators

Patent for a improved version of the cotton-chopper, used for the cultivation of cotton. This is a new arrangement of part of the cotton-chopper as it fits in with the complete machine.
Date: April 16, 1872
Creator: Harcrow, James M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improved Bedstead-Fastening (open access)

Improved Bedstead-Fastening

Patent for improvements in the mode of fastening the rail to the post of bedsteads.
Date: August 16, 1870
Creator: Maulding, Pres.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Presses.

Patent for a "new and improved cotton-press" (line 5) relating to "improvements in friction-clamping apparatus used on vertical bars or rods of presses for holding the follower and lever in working the follower in passing the bale" (lines 11-14) including instructions and an illustration.
Date: December 26, 1871
Creator: Simpson, Thomas D. & Lamkin, William S.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Washing Machines. (open access)

Improvement in Washing Machines.

Patent for the improvement of washing machine mechanisms.
Date: February 14, 1871
Creator: Jones, William G.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Plows.

Patent for "plow mold-boards to which the black land of Texas, and other similar soils, will not adhere, so that a furrow can be turned, however sticky and waxy the soil may be." (lines 14-18) including instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 18, 1875
Creator: Bell, Francis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in liquid-measuring tanks. (open access)

Improvement in liquid-measuring tanks.

Patent for an airtight and fireproof measuring tank for lamp oils, usable in both daytime and nighttime. Includes illustrations.
Date: August 22, 1876
Creator: Williams, Blasius
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Revolving Conical Mold-Boards (open access)

Improvement in Revolving Conical Mold-Boards

Patent for improvements and new design for a Revolving Conical Mold-Board Plow.
Date: May 22, 1877
Creator: Dryer, Charles Valentine
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Seed-Planters. (open access)

Improvement in Seed-Planters.

Patent for "revolving-cylinder seed-planters; and its object is to furnish a strong and durable implement adapted to plant with precision various kinds of seed, and the wheels of which are not liable to become clogged with earth." (Lines 12-17) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: November 13, 1877
Creator: Burris, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Sinking Pneumatic Piles or Caissons. (open access)

Improvement in Sinking Pneumatic Piles or Caissons.

Patent for certain improvements in sinking and securing of pneumatic piles or caissons, including instructions and illustrations.
Date: May 13, 1873
Creator: Sickels, Frederick E.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Plows. (open access)

Improvement in Plows.

Patent to improve the construction of the mold-board of the plow described in Letters Patent No. 163,352, "to make it more effective in preventing the black lands of Texas and other sticky and waxy soils from adhering to it, and to enable a proper furrow to be turned, however sticky and waxy the soil may be." (Lines 17-22) Includes instructions and illustrations.
Date: June 20, 1876
Creator: Bell, Francis R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Car-couplings (open access)

Improvement in Car-couplings

Patent for "an automatic car-coupling, that may also be readily coupled with the common pin-and-link and other couplings, and be adjusted without going between the cars, so as to avoid all danger" (lines 14-18).
Date: August 24, 1875
Creator: Harper, Peter
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Cotton-Presses. (open access)

Improvement in Cotton-Presses.

Patent for "a new and Improved Cotton-Press" (lines 4-5) with illustration.
Date: July 28, 1874
Creator: Salmon, William A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Axle-Box. (open access)

Axle-Box.

Patent for a simple, inexpensive, and durable wheel-axle box that is "adapted to contain a supply of lubricating material and constructed to feed the same continuously to the axle-spindle to prevent overheating, and furthermore, to provide means for preventing ingress of dust" (lines 9-14).
Date: November 19, 1895
Creator: Casto, Tony Lo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Bridge. (open access)

Bridge.

Patent for a new and improved bridge. This design consists in "the combination, with the base, stringers, the top arched bars, and the upright tie-bars, of the intermediate stringers, arched bars, and their horizontal tie-bars, and wedge-keys . . . whereby the structure is greatly strengthened" (lines 85-91).
Date: December 13, 1881
Creator: Ibel, Justus H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Carrier Iron for Draw Bars. (open access)

Carrier Iron for Draw Bars.

Patent for a new and improved carrier iron for draw-bars. This design "is to provide an improved draw-bar support exceedingly strong and durable in construction and very cheap and simple which will prevent spreading of the draft-timbers or sagging of the draw-bar and which can be reversed" (lines 19-24). It consists in "[t]he combination, in a car, of the draft-timbers, the draw-bar between the same, and the loop-shaped carrier-iron in one piece embracing said timbers and passing above and below and supporting the draw-bar and secured to said timbers by bolts" (lines 78-83).
Date: September 27, 1892
Creator: Minton, William Dryden & Douglas, Alexander Stewart
System: The Portal to Texas History
Axle-Box. (open access)

Axle-Box.

Patent for an axle-box for vehicle wheels that "contains a lubricant-receiving recess from which the lubricant is automatically fed to the spindle of the axle as necessity may occasion" (lines 10-13).
Date: May 8, 1894
Creator: Casto, Tony Lo
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cinder and Smoke Consuming Apparatus. (open access)

Cinder and Smoke Consuming Apparatus.

Patent for "devices for conducting exhaust steam, gases and cinders to the fire place of a boiler and is primarily intended for use in locomotive boilers, and its object is to increase the efficiency of such apparatus" (lines 11-16).
Date: February 14, 1893
Creator: Little, Francis
System: The Portal to Texas History