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
Wire Stretcher. (open access)

Wire Stretcher.

Patent for a new and improved wire-stretcher. This design "has reference more particularly to that class of devices which are adapted to be applied to and removed from the wires at will" (lines 9-11). It consists in "the rigid bar, hooks . . . pivoted to the bar, and a laterally projecting arm" (lines 69-71).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Reed, Francis O.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Means for Ventilating Cars. (open access)

Means for Ventilating Cars.

Patent for a new and improved ventilator. This design is "first, to ventilate cars or other vehicles in such a manner that the air-currents may be formed within and directed to any part of the car and the admission of the air regulated in quantity; second, to change the direction of the air-currents formed within the car and regulate their escape" (lines 11-17). It consists in "the body of a vehicle having its walls provided with a suitable pipe-opening, of an air-receiving pipe provided with a screen upon its outer end, a hollow fan-shaped air-distributor having an opening within said walls" (lines 58-63).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Lazarus, Samuel
System: The Portal to Texas History
Ticket Reel. (open access)

Ticket Reel.

Patent for a new and improved ticket reel. This design, "which is filled with the ticket-strip, is mounted upon an angular shaft moving with the reel; said shaft being provided with a journal at or near one end, said journal having bearing in a standard or bracket rigid upon a base piece or plate adapted to be bolted or screwed to a table or desk. . . . [A]lso, to mount upon the end of the shaft immediately outside the bracket or standard a ratchet-wheel, and to pivot upon the bracket a spring-pressed pawl engaging said ratchet, and to combine with the ticket-reel a suitable friction-spring" (lines 16-28).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Everett, Milton
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stock-Car (open access)

Stock-Car

Patent for an improvement on patent no. 326,591 so as "to enable a series of troughs in a stock-car to be extended toward and withdrawn 'from a position in line with the heads of the stock simultaneously; second, to provide for a vibrating water-trough a self-folding end support; third, to provide a car-door for the entrance of the stock which is capable of being folded and will unfold to close the door-opening in line with the inner surface of the car; fourth, to provide a sliding rear support for a folding car-door when closed; fifth, to enable the vibrating stall-partitions to be released from a horizontally-retained position from either side of the car; sixth, to enable one exterior end portion of a stock-car to be folded in line with the end hay-racks; seventh, to combine a folding exterior end portion of a car with the interior hay-rack" (lines 18-36).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Stoner, Jacob B.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stirrup. (open access)

Stirrup.

Patent for a new and improved stirrup. This design relates "particularly to a new and improved stirrup iron or body, whereby a stirrup of extraordinary strength and lightness is produced, and also one that is ornamental and avoids the discomfort of metallic stirrups now in common use" (lines 8-13).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Kerns, George A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Cultivator (open access)

Cultivator

Patent for a cultivator for cotton and or corn.
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Neitsch, Fred T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Rotary Valve for Steam Engines. (open access)

Rotary Valve for Steam Engines.

Patent for improvements in rotary valves, including illustrations.
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Grant, Samuel, Jr.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Safe. (open access)

Safe.

Patent for "safes which are made burglar and if desired, fire proof without increasing weight and cost ofthe same, reliance for security being placed upon the release or discharge of condensed gases, liquefied or not, and contained within the walls of the safe in such manner as that any attempt to force the safe will break the walls of the containing-chamber and release the fluid, said fluid or gases being of a deadly character, whereby persons or animals are compelled to flee from the vicinity of the safe as soon as the gas permeates the atmosphere, and, if desired, also having the property of extinguishing fires or preventing combustion" (lines 11-25).
Date: January 6, 1891
Creator: Payne, John J. E. H.
System: The Portal to Texas History