Resource Type

Automatic Relief Valve for Pneumatic Seed Cotton Distributers. (open access)

Automatic Relief Valve for Pneumatic Seed Cotton Distributers.

Patent for a valve that attaches to a flue upon a pneumatic-seed cotton distributor. Includes illustrations.
Date: January 6, 1903
Creator: Wade, George W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
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
Bat-Roost. (open access)

Bat-Roost.

Patent for a bat roost that provides roosting space, as well as a space for hibernation. The bat roost will have a lower space that allows the user to clean out the droppings.
Date: January 6, 1914
Creator: Campbell, Charles A. R.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Can-Closure (open access)

Can-Closure

Patent for general use to securely close cans containing liquid so that invisible tampering, evaporation, and contamination cannot occur.
Date: January 6, 1920
Creator: Starcke, Eugene P.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Combination Well-Packer and Setting-Tool. (open access)

Combination Well-Packer and Setting-Tool.

Patent for a well packer and setting tool for the prevention of intermingling between oil and water in a well when used by itself or with other pipes. The invention allows for the packer to be set using the setting tool which can then be removed once the packer is in place.
Date: January 6, 1920
Creator: Abercrombie, Jamie & Dunman, Nesbit M.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Apparatus for Heating and Ripening Honey. (open access)

Apparatus for Heating and Ripening Honey.

Patent for a device that quickly heats and ripens honey, employing a hot water tank containing a pipe coil through which the honey is poured and strained upon exit.
Date: January 6, 1920
Creator: Mitchell, Henry A.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Wrench (open access)

Wrench

Patent for a wrench.
Date: January 6, 1903
Creator: Campbell, Thomas E.
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
Machine for Raising and Lowering Railway-Tracks and Applying Ballast Thereto. (open access)

Machine for Raising and Lowering Railway-Tracks and Applying Ballast Thereto.

Patent for machines designed for "raising and lowering railway-tracks and applying ballast thereto." (lines 11-12) including illustrations.
Date: January 6, 1914
Creator: Sparks, Walter F.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Machines for Sprinkling Cotton-Plants. (open access)

Improvement in Machines for Sprinkling Cotton-Plants.

Patent for a wheeled, horse-drawn machine, "whereby plants are firs dampened with water and then overspread with poisonous powder, the latter being caused by the former to adhere to the plant" (para. 9).
Date: January 6, 1874
Creator: Robinson, William T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vending-Machine. (open access)

Vending-Machine.

Patent for improvements in the construction of coin-operated vending machines which automatically lock when coins are not inserted. This device is designed to dispense objects of many shapes and sizes. Illustrations included.
Date: January 6, 1920
Creator: Ogden, Carlton N.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Vending Machine (open access)

Vending Machine

Patent for a coin operated vending machine for small packaged goods.
Date: January 6, 1903
Creator: Connor, Frank, C.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Threshing Machine (open access)

Threshing Machine

Patent for machine adapted to operate upon maize, Kafir corn, cane, and the like so as to effectively remove or rub off the seed or grains, without crushing or breaking the same.
Date: January 6, 1914
Creator: Newsom, John W.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Improvement in Apparatus for Cooling the Air of Buildings. (open access)

Improvement in Apparatus for Cooling the Air of Buildings.

Patent for improvements to cooling apparatus for buildings, especially distilleries and breweries. Illustration included.
Date: January 6, 1874
Creator: Mühl, Andrew
System: The Portal to Texas History
Stalk-Chopper. (open access)

Stalk-Chopper.

Patent for stalk-choppers related to the type employed by "superimposed horizontal cutters" (lines 13-14) including an illustration and description.
Date: January 6, 1914
Creator: Scott, Oscar Franklin
System: The Portal to Texas History
Process of Producing Gas. (open access)

Process of Producing Gas.

Patent for a new method of making gas. The process is a simple and efficient method of making gas continuously, including illustrations.
Date: January 6, 1914
Creator: Hirt, Jules H.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Mold and Mold Hoisting Apparatus for Building Concrete Walls. (open access)

Mold and Mold Hoisting Apparatus for Building Concrete Walls.

Patent for a new and improved apparatus for hoisting concrete. This design consists in "[t]he combination of shaft, drum, rope, and bar with the mold formed of [the] plank and with [the] frame . . . [t]he planks of the mold, made with rabbeted ends and provided with clamps . . . [and] [t]he combination of angle-pieces, bars, and clamping-screws with the mold-planks . . . [and] [t]he combination, with the planks of a concrete-mold having beveled ends, of angle-pieces, also having beveled-ends, and provided with screws for clamping the plank" (lines 71-83).
Date: January 6, 1885
Creator: Carrico, Thomas W.
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
Spring-Clamp. (open access)

Spring-Clamp.

Patent for a spring clamp "for suspending small articles -- such as towels, dishcloths, and napkins -- and which may also be employed for hanging window-curtains, portières, goods in show-windows, and similar purposes" (lines 7-12)
Date: January 6, 1903
Creator: Westbrook, Nancy Z.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Plow. (open access)

Plow.

Patent for a plow that improves the type of plow employing "a moldboard and plowpoint or share bolted to a standard" (lines 9-11), with illustrations. This patent improves upon previous patents numbered 974,675 and 974,676 issued to the same inventor on November 1, 1910.
Date: January 6, 1920
Creator: Kelly, Robert Marvin
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
Harrow Attachment. (open access)

Harrow Attachment.

Patent for an improved attachment for cultivators used in farming.
Date: January 6, 1914
Creator: Jones, James W. & Tucker, George H.
System: The Portal to Texas History