Resource Type

Hay Press. (open access)

Hay Press.

Patent for a new and improved baling-press. This design is "compris[ed of] the parallel beams, the standards erected on said beams near the centers thereof, the transverse bars connecting the standards in pairs, the longitudinal bearing-bar secured to and between the said transverse bars, the king-bolt journaled in said bearing-bars, the sweep secured to the upper end of the king-bolt, the drive-wheel secured to the lower end of the king-bolt and having a single depending crank-pin, the press-boxes at the ends of the beams, the plungers in said press-boxes, and the pitmen" (lines 86-98).
Date: February 5, 1889
Creator: Mayes, Thomas T.
System: The Portal to Texas History
Seed Planter. (open access)

Seed Planter.

Patent for a new and improved planter. This design "consists in the detailed construction . . . by which the operator is enabled to see each seed in its passage from the planting-wheel to the ground, and so can guard against the disadvantage of some of the rows being only half planted, from the seed-spout getting stopped up, or from the planter-wheel failing to act properly, and in other improvements" (lines 13-21).
Date: February 2, 1886
Creator: Lovick, George
System: The Portal to Texas History
Washing-Machine. (open access)

Washing-Machine.

Patent for a simplified washing machine by constructing it with "double bottoms and sides, and in providing the said machines with means by which the washing-liquid is made to flow upward between the said sides and downward upon the article or articles to be washed; and it also consists in providing suitable means whereby said articles or articles may be drained" (lines 14-20).
Date: February 14, 1888
Creator: McCausland, William I.
System: The Portal to Texas History