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
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for an improvement on patent no. 326,591 so as "to enable a series of troughs in a stock-car to be extended toward and withdrawn 'from a position in line with the heads of the stock simultaneously; second, to provide for a vibrating water-trough a self-folding end support; third, to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
Hay Press. (open access)

Hay Press.

Patent for a new and improved hay-press. This design "is to produce a hay-press of simple construction that will work easily and rapidly, that will operate in such a manner that the hay cannot clog in the press, and in which the plunger or follower will be automatically reciprocated by a continuous motion of the main pulley" (lines 9-15). It consists, "with the plunger having a sideways-extending arm, a screw-shaft connected with the plunger and having a sideways-extending arm, the pinion on the screw-shaft, the shaft and pinions . . . of a tilting frame" (lines 113-118).
Date: January 13, 1891
Creator: Donald, Frank
System: The Portal to Texas History
Conflagration Arrester. (open access)

Conflagration Arrester.

Patent for a new and improved conflagration arrester. This design "is to provide a device by which the sides of a building adjacent to other buildings on fire may be protected by a uniform continuous sheet of water covering the sides of such building" (lines 9-13). It consists in "the combination of a series of inclined arms provided with eyes at their outer ends and having hooks to engage the side of a building, a shelf or deflector, and a rod so connecting the latter pivotally with the eyes of the inclined arms that the upper part of said shelf shall overbalance the lower part, which shall . . . rest against the wall" (lines 89-97).
Date: January 20, 1891
Creator: Puckett, Florence N.
System: The Portal to Texas History